By Conrad Dudderar
Staff Writer
Sixty voting precincts in 55 polling places will be open for Tuesday’s runoff primary election in Canadian County, which has seen remarkable growth in registered voters in less than two years.
In October 2020, Canadian County had 88,787 registered voters.
On Aug. 12, Canadian County’s voter registration totaled 93,433 – a 5.23% increase.
There are 4,646 more registered voters in Canadian County now than there were 22 months ago.
Just since this May, more than 1,500 names have been added to Canadian County’s voter rolls.
Nearly 60% of Canadian County’s registered voters are Republicans. Some 21.2% are Democrats, 17.8% are Independents and 1% are Libertarians.
Canadian County Election Board Secretary Wanda Armold and her staff are reminding voters that all polling places will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Aug. 23 for the runoff primary.
“As usual, Independents can have a Democrat ballot if they want it,” Armold said. “But the Republican Party does not allow Independents to vote their ballot.”
Early voting is set 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. this Thursday and Friday, Aug. 18-19 and 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 20 at the former Canadian County DHS Building, 314 W Rogers in El Reno.
“I don’t know what the turnout will be like; the runoff is usually lower than the primary,” Armold said. “I’m going to go ahead and use extra (precinct) workers where I can find them because I want to keep them in practice for November.”
The general election will be Tuesday, Nov. 8, and Canadian County’s elections chief predicts “it’s going to be real busy.”
Of note, two of Canadian County’s 60 precincts have moved:
- Precinct 225 – From Joe Cooper Dodge at 11001 W Reno to Church of the Good Shepherd-Christian Life Center at 10928 SW 15th.
- Precinct 226 – Grace Episcopal Church, from 720 S Yukon Parkway to 600 N Mustang Road.
Voter registration deadline for the Aug. 23rd runoff primary election was July 29. On Aug. 1, Canadian County had 93,215 registered voters.
WHAT’S ON THE BALLOT?
The official Canadian County Republican ballot for the Aug. 23rd primary runoff features four races for state officers and one race for congressional officers:
State Treasurer: Clark Jolley and Todd Russ
Superintendent of Public Instruction: April Grace and Ryan Walters
Commissioner of Labor: Sean Roberts and Leslie Osborn
Corporation Commissioner: Todd Thomsen and Kim David
U.S. Senator (unexpired term): T.W. Shannon and Markwayne Mullin
Some Canadian County voters also will see a state legislative race on their ballots:
District 26 State Senator: Brady Butler and Darcy Allen Jech
There is only one race that appears on the Aug. 23rd runoff ballot for Canadian County Democrat voters:
U.S. Senator: Jason Bollinger and Madison Horn.
Meanwhile, voters in Banner will cast ballots on a $6 million school bond proposition while voters in Geary cast ballots on a $30.7 million school bond proposition.
Many Canadian County voters have been submitting requests to change their political parties – but that’s not permitted until the primaries are over.
“They don’t seem to understand that between April 1 and August 31, in even-numbered years, you cannot change parties,” Armold said.
“On September 1, we’ll run a process that will update all of those party changes. Then, we’ll have to mail out all-new voter registration cards to those voters with their party change on it.”
For more information, contact the Canadian County Election Board at (405) 422-2422 or canadian.county@elections.ok.gov.
