OK County Election Boards See Spike In New Voters Compared To Last Presidential Election

With less than three weeks before the election, Green Country election boards are swamped as thousands of people have registered to vote for the very first time.

In Rogers County, they’re still counting newly registered voters, but they’ve seen hundreds more people register to vote for the first time compared to the last presidential election.

Thousands of people registered to vote for the very first time.  

Rogers County Election Board Secretary Julie Dermody said more than 200 people were at the board after 5:00 p.m. last Friday, to meet the statewide deadline for registration.  

"We even had a group of teenagers come in after the football game so that they could register to vote for the first time,” Dermody said.  

She said she is seeing more engagement than the last presidential election.  

"Like an Election Day every single day. That's how busy it's been,” Dermody said.  

She said from September 1 up until the deadline, more than 1,800 people registered to vote for the first time in the county. That number is up from the same timeframe leading up to the last presidential election, when about 1,100 people registered for the first time.  

In Tulsa County the election board said so far, it has entered more than 26,000 new registrations since September 1 this year. That’s compared to just over 17,000 new voter registrations back in 2016.  

Jackie Zaferes just turned 18 in March and registered to vote this summer.  

"Being a young adult and a woman I do think it's really important to exercise that right to vote,” Zaferes said.  

The RSU student said she has been doing her own research, feels empowered, and knows who she's voting for. 

When early voting begins at the end of the month, locations will remain the same as they have in years in Rogers County. People can vote early at the Central Baptist Church in Owasso, or at the election board.