Tulsa County Election Board Sees Surge In Registrations, Party Changes

A week away from the midterm elections, 33,000 Oklahomans have already voted.

They've returned absentee ballots in what's leading up to an election with more people registering and changing parties.

It's too late to register to vote, but not too late to get an absentee ballot, that's Wednesday. At the Tulsa County election board, they're already counting absentee ballots, several hundred arrive each day in the mail.

In the last two months, there was a surge of registrations and in people changing political parties. It could lead to a strong turnout next Tuesday.

In Tulsa County here's the final breakdown of registered voters:
    
    Republican     176,134
    Democrat    116,738
    Independent    55,921
    Libertarian    1,479

Party Changes:
    
    To Republican    50%
    To Democrat    26%
    To Independent    19%
    To Libertarian     4%

“We're seeing a significant increase in the numbers of people switching to the Republican party. About 51% of the switches made in the months of September and October were to Republican, Democrats were trailing 29% and 25% respectively,” said Tulsa County Election Board Secretary Gwen Freeman.

Thursday, early voting begins statewide, in Tulsa County that's at the election board and at the Hardesty Library. That runs Thursday, Friday and Saturday.