About a month out from early voting in the Aug. 25 election, some Tulsans are concerned recent decisions by the county election board will disproportionately impact voters who call north Tulsa home.
There are currently two sites for the Aug 20-22 early voting period: Tulsa Tech’s Broken Arrow campus and the election board headquarters at 12000 E. Skelly Drive in east Tulsa. The election board moved to its new location in March after officials said they outgrew the old facility just north of downtown.
Tulsan Alicia Andrews, chair of the Democratic National Committee’s Women’s Caucus, started a petition which lays out two requests: an additional in-person early voting site to serve the northern part of the city and a closer precinct location to replace the Tulsa Tech Peoria Campus that is temporarily closed due to storm damage.
As of Tuesday, more than 700 people had signed.
“Early voting has been at 555 North Denver for a long time and there will be people who will drive over there a month from now to vote for city council and realize that it’s not there,” Andrews told The Eagle. “And 12000 E. Skelly Drive isn’t just around the corner. So they’re likely to not vote.”
Gwen Freeman, secretary of the three-member election board, said in a statement the county has “historically provided 2 (early voting) locations for our large elections” and they “are not chosen for convenience.”
“Rather, they are chosen for accessibility, size and security for the many thousands of voters who choose to participate from anywhere in Tulsa County,” Freeman said.
However, the board previously announced it would open a third early voting site for the Nov. 3 election.
The new site will “serve north Tulsa and the surrounding communities of Skiatook, Collinsville, Turley, and portions of Owasso,” the board said. Details on the additional location have not yet been released.
When asked what influenced the decision to bring a third early voting site to the county for the November general election, communications coordinator Ronni Pierce said “planning for a third early voting location has been ongoing for about a year” and the board had to consider budgetary and personnel limitations.
“This is a first for us. We’ve never had to train three different groups of officials for three different locations,” he told The Eagle.
Voters in the late August election will have a chance to weigh in on city council seats, state runoffs and two state questions.
And for a state that has consistently ranked near the bottom for voter turnout, Andrews said she worries the precinct changes will play into that.
“I just don’t think that Oklahoma can afford to keep giving people excuses not to vote,” Andrews told The Eagle. The state had the shortest early voting period of all 37 states that offer the option, Oklahoma Watch reported in 2019.
Part of Andrew’s concern is also rooted in the Election Day polling site being moved from the Tulsa Tech Peoria campus about four miles north to O’Brien Park.
“If they drive over to Tulsa Tech and they’re told, ‘No, no, no, now you got to go out to O’Brien.’ Yes, there will be people who will go out to O’Brien, or there will be a lot of people who decide not to,” Andrews said.
According to the petition, leadership at both 36th Street North Event Center and North Peoria Church have offered to open their doors as a precinct on Aug. 25.
Election board officials said they don’t know how long O’Brien Park will serve as the replacement precinct but they are monitoring the situation. Voters who were previously assigned to the Peoria campus should have received a letter by mail informing them about the change.
Early voting is set for 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Aug. 20-21 and 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Aug. 22. Those who qualify to vote absentee have until Aug. 10 to request a ballot.
