More Tulsa County voters cast ballots in Tuesday’s primary election than four years ago — despite independent voters being limited to a single ballot issue.
Not surprisingly, the heaviest turnout was for State Question 832, which sought to raise the minimum wage, because all registered voters could weigh in on the issue. A majority of Oklahomans rejected the proposal.
In Tulsa County, 101,246 voters made a choice on the state question. This year’s party primaries were closed to independents.
For comparison, in the June 2022 governor’s primary races, in which all voters could cast a ballot, Tulsa County turnout was 81,900.
Overall, more than 630,000 Oklahomans cast a ballot for SQ 832, according to the state Election Board. That’s a drop from the June 2018 primary that saw 892,758 votes on State Question 788, which legalized medical marijuana. That was the last time Oklahomans decided on a state question during a June primary.
Gubernatorial primary turnout
The gubernatorial race resulted in the second-highest voter turnout of the night. Voting in the Republican gubernatorial primary outpaced 2022, when Gov. Kevin Stitt secured the nomination for his second term. This year’s race saw a large pool of new candidates vying to replace the term-limited Stitt.
On Tuesday, Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond and former state Sen. Mike Mazzei advanced to the Republican runoff Aug. 25. Candidates needed a simple majority to win the nomination. Drummond finished the night with the slightest edge over Mazzei in the nine-person race — 105,787 (26.26%) votes to Mazzei’s 104,629 (25.97%). Chip Keating finished third with 74,356 (18.45%) votes.
In total, 402,917 voters cast ballots in the Republican gubernatorial primary, up from 359,871 votes in 2022 but down from 452,606 votes in 2018, according to the state election board.
Democrat Cyndi Munson handily won the nomination with 129,152 votes (74.93%) over Connie Johnson’s 38,393 (22.27%).
Democrats increased their turnout for the governor’s race with 172,366 ballots cast in the primary, compared to 167,807 in 2022. This marks the first time in recent years that Oklahoma Democrats did not allow independents to vote in its primary race after officials missed a key deadline.
Tulsa County voter turnout
Stephen Campbell is an 82-year-old poll worker at the W.L. Hutcherson Family YMCA in north Tulsa. He said his impression was that voter turnout “was heavier” than the previous election year and a “fair number of young people” showed up to vote.
Turnout tends to be lower in primaries, and Tulsa’s numbers fluctuate through the years. In 2022, the county turnout was close to 84,000 and fell to 40,137 two years later. But Tuesday night brought out more than 101,000 voters.
“In other polling places, they were a little busier, but this year, it has been mostly steady,” Campbell said at the site.
That observation was shared by poll worker Keiran Major at Iglesia Eficaz in east Tulsa.
“What I am hearing from other poll workers is that we saw more turnout, a greater number of voters,” Major said.
In Broken Arrow, poll worker Norma Gibbs-Zor said more than 350 people showed up to vote at her precinct Tuesday.
“We weren’t expecting this many since it was a primary. It was a really good turnout,” Gibbs-Zor said.
Visit the Tulsa Flyer’s voter guide for our coverage of the primary election and a voting toolkit to get you set for the next one.
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