Oklahoma convention delegates cast 36 votes for Harris, Walz at DNC
Oklahoma convention delegates cast 36 votes for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz at the Democratic National Convention Tuesday night in Chicago.
On Tuesday, National Voter Registration Day, school librarian Molly Dettman will be holding another registration drive at Norman North High School.
Except for an interruption during the COVID-19 pandemic, Dettman has been holding the drive for the past seven years and finds young people just as enthusiastic as ever about their opportunity to participate in the political process.
“Our young people are really interested in registering to vote and having their voices heard,” Dettman told The Oklahoman on Monday. “One student came by to register and said, ‘I can’t complain if I don’t at least vote and try,'” she said.
Political scientists have noted that in Oklahoma and other states where a single party ― either Republican or Democrat ― dominates the political landscape, voter turnout is low.
In 2020, voter turnout in Oklahoma was “depressingly low ― the lowest in the nation, in fact,” said Tyler Johnson, a political science professor at the University of Oklahoma.
Oklahoma and other states near the bottom of the list in turnout “share the non-swing, one-party majority trait,” he said.
If so, the alienation isn’t apparent at the entry level to the process, Dettman said.
How to register to vote in Oklahoma
Sponsored since 2012 by a group of government agencies, including the National Association of Secretaries of State, and non-profit organizations like the League of Women Voters, Tuesday’s voter registration drives are intended to emphasize the importance of voting and encourage those who have not done so to register to vote.
Information on how to register to vote in Oklahoma can be found on the website of the Oklahoma State Election Board (OEB).
In general, you can register to vote if you are a citizen of the United States, a resident of the state and are at least 18 years old. Unlike some other states, Oklahoma allows people convicted of a felony to register to vote when he or she has fully served his or her sentence of court-mandated calendar days, including any term of incarceration, parole or supervision, or completed a period of probation ordered by any court. A convicted felon who has been pardoned may register.
According to the OEB, as of the end of August, 2.38 million people were registered to vote in the state.
Of that number 1.24 million were registered as Republican, 656,000 as Democrats and 466,000 as independents.
The overall number was a slight increase from the number registered in 2022, which was 2.30 million. Republican registrations increased by about 61,000, independents added about 53,000 registrations, but Democratic registration dropped by about 32,000.
Democratic registrations surged in Pennsylvania and North Carolina after President Joe Biden dropped his re-election campaign and threw his support to Vice President Kamala Harris, according to news reports. In Oklahoma, however, Democratic registrations increased by only 2,100 from July to August.
Oklahoma is not one of the “swing” states where the outcome of the presidential election is uncertain. Donald Trump carried every Oklahoma county in his 2016 and 2020 campaigns, although Biden won both the popular vote and the electoral vote count nationwide in 2020.
Only half of Oklahomans eligible to vote participated in the 2020 election
The OEB doesn’t track the number of people in the state who meet the criteria to be registered voters but have not chosen to do so.
However, “The Election Lab,” a program at the University of Florida, has studied voter turnout as a percentage of the number who could have voted if they had made the effort to register and go to the polls.
In the 2020 election, this study estimated that 2.88 million people met the criteria for registration and could have been eligible to vote in Oklahoma, but the total number of ballots actually counted was 1.57 million. This 54.4% turnout made Oklahoma last among all the states and the District of Columbia.
When you compare the 2.88 million eligible to vote with the 2.6 million actually registered in 2020, it comes out to more than a quarter of a million people opting out of the political process ― a clear voter registration challenge.
Republicans have not always enjoyed the 2-1 margin in voter registration they have in 2024.
Just 10 years ago, in 2014, Democrats held a slim 3,000 registration edge ― 884,150 to 881,253, according to OEB records.
And a registration advantage is not always a guarantee of victory.
In 2018, Republican held a 31,000 registration edge over Democrats in the state’s 5th Congressional District (Oklahoma, Pottawatomie and Seminole counties). Nevertheless, Democrat Kendra Horn managed to pull off a major upset, defeating incumbent GOP Rep. Steve Russell by a scant 3,338 votes. She became the first Democratic woman elected to the House from Oklahoma, and the first Democrat to represent the district in 44 years.
This year Democrat Madison Horn (no relation to Kendra Horn) has a similar challenge in her effort to unseat incumbent Republican Rep. Stephanie Bice. But the Republican registration edge over Democrats in the 5th District as of August this year has grown to 48,000 votes.
Bill Wertz is deputy editor of Viewpoints.
Source link : http://www.bing.com/news/apiclick.aspx?ref=FexRss&aid=&tid=66e9982940bb492985bbfa4c7e038934&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.usatoday.com%2Fstory%2Fnews%2Fpolitics%2Felections%2F2024%2F09%2F17%2Fnational-voter-registration-day-2024-elections-oklahoma-young-voters%2F75241445007%2F&c=1149080514195727589&mkt=en-us
Author :
Publish date : 2024-09-16 23:58:00
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.