Search For New Tulsa County Election Board Building Continues

Tulsa County Commissioners are searching for a new location for the election board headquarters after negotiations with one property fell through.

Officials are looking for a building that is easier to access and accommodates the city’s growth. County Commissioner Stan Sallee says negotiations to move the headquarters from the current location at Denver and Fairview to the old Macy’s near 41st and Yale didn't work out, so the search continues for a new spot. The building will need to have specific accommodations, including plenty of parking spots, accessibility through public transportation, and the ability to host long lines of early voters.

Commissioners are hopeful to move the election board to an area that is centrally located in Tulsa. Election board secretary Gwen Freeman makes it clear they have outgrown the current location. The COVID-19 pandemic made things even more difficult because of all the absentee ballots that had to be processed. The record number forced many departments to be moved around and forced into the same workspaces.

“With 2020, we had a record number of voter turnout, absentees, and employees that we had to hire to be able to process and work that presidential election,” said Freeman. “We literally were on top of each other in this building.”

Freeman points out other limitations of the current property, including parking and the lobby. Commissioner Sallee says the plan is to use federal pandemic money to facilitate the move once a new location is determined.