Oklahoma Voter Registration Information

Presidential Primary Election
March 6, 2012

Primary Election Voter Registration Deadline
February 10, 2012

Primary Statewide Election
June 26 , 2012

Primary Statewide Election Registration Deadline
June 1, 2012

Runoff Primary Election
August 28, 2012

Runoff Primary Election Registration Deadline
August 3, 2012

General Election
November 6, 2012

General Election Voter Registration Deadline
October 12, 2012

Voter Registration & Eligibility

A person who is eligible to register to vote must be at least 18 years old, a United States citizen and a resident of the State of Oklahoma.

How to Register

You must fill out a voter registration application form. Voter registration applications are available at your County Election Board, post offices, tag agencies, libraries and many other public locations. You will be offered a voter registration application when you get your driver's license and when you apply for assistance at some government agencies. You also may download an application form.

You must sign and date the oath printed on the form. When you sign the voter registration application form, you swear that you are eligible to register to vote.

Changing Your Registration

If you need to change your name, your address or your political affiliation, you must fill out another voter registration application form. You may change your registration at any time with one exception. You may not change your political affiliation during the period from April 1 through August 31, inclusive, in any even-numbered year. The last day on which you may change your political affiliation before the closed period is March 31; the first day on which you may change your political affiliation after the closed period is September 1.

Submitting Your Application

You may mail your voter registration application to the State Election Board. The card is already addressed, but you must add a first-class postage stamp. If you fill out your voter registration application form at a tag agency when you get your driver's license or when you apply for assistance at a government agency, the agency will mail the form to the State Election Board for you.

Voter Identification Card

You do not become a registered voter until the county election board in the county where you reside has approved your application. When your application is approved, the county election board will mail a voter identification card to you. Your voter identification card lists your name, address, political affiliation and the polling place for your voting precinct. When you receive your voter identification card, look at it carefully and report any errors to the county election board immediately. Keep your voter identification card in a safe place and always take it with you when you go to vote.

If your voter registration application cannot be approved, you will receive a letter from the county election board. The letter will tell you why your application was not approved and explain the steps you need to take to become registered. You may be able to return the letter with some additional information, or you may need to fill out and send in another voter registration application form.

Closed Primary System

Oklahoma has a closed primary system. Only voters who are registered members of a recognized political party may vote for the party's candidates in primary and runoff primary elections. Registered Independent voters may be eligible to vote in party's primaries and runoff primaries if authorized by the party.

However, nonpartisan judicial offices, state questions and county questions often are included in primary elections. All registered voters, including Independents, are entitled to receive those ballots. At general elections, all voters receive the same ballot and may vote for any candidate or question on the ballot.

When to Register

You may submit your voter registration application form at any time. However, voter identification cards cannot be issued during the 24 days prior to an election. If your registration application is received by the county election board during the 24 days before an election, you will not receive your voter identification card until after the election.

If you will become 18 during the 60 days before an election, you may apply for voter registration between 25 and 60 days before the election.

Any registered voter in Oklahoma may vote by absentee ballot. It is not necessary to give a reason for voting absentee.

How to Apply

Applications for absentee ballots must be made in writing. Absentee ballot application forms are available from all county election boards and from the State Election Board. Or, download a form here.

You are not required to use the form, however. You may write a letter to your county election board to apply for absentee ballots.  The letter must contain the following information.

your name
your birth date
the address at which you are registered to vote
the election or elections for which you are requesting ballots
the address to which the ballots should be mailed
your signature
You may apply for absentee ballots for one election, for several elections or for all elections in which you are eligible to vote during the calendar year in which the application is submitted.

You may mail your absentee ballot application to the county election board, you may fax it or you may deliver your own application personally to the county election board office. (You may not deliver an application for another person, however. It's the law.) You also may send a telegram to apply.

The deadline to apply for an absentee ballot to be mailed to you is always 5 p.m. on Wednesday preceding the election.

Returning Your Ballot

If your absentee ballot is mailed to you, you must return it to the county election board by mail. An absentee ballot must be received by the county election board before 7 p.m. on election day to be counted.

In-person Absentee Voting

Voters may cast an absentee ballot in person at the county election board office from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Friday and Monday before all elections. For state and federal elections only, in-person absentee voting also is available from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday. In-person absentee voters must fill out and sign an application form when they arrive to vote.

Special Conditions

Although any voter can vote an absentee ballot without giving a reason, the law still contains some "excuses" for voting absentee. Some voters benefit by using one of those excuses when they apply for absentee ballots. These excuses activate special conditions that make absentee voting even easier.

Physically incapacitated voters and voters who care for physically incapacitated persons who cannot be left alone may vote by absentee ballot. These voters may submit their applications only by mail, fax, or telegraph. They are not required to have their signatures on the absentee affidavits notarized. They are required to have their signatures witnessed by two people.

Voters in nursing homes in the same county where they are registered voters may vote absentee. They may submit their applications only by mail, fax, or telegraph. An Absentee Voting Board will go to the nursing home a few days before the election to allow these voters to cast their ballots.

Oklahomans who are in the military or who are living overseas and their spouses and dependents may vote by absentee ballot even if they are not registered to vote. (They must be eligible to be registered, however.) Military and overseas voters may submit their applications only by mail, fax or e-mail. Military voters should contact the Voting Assistance Officers in their units for application forms and information. Overseas voters may obtain the same materials at United States military installations, embassies and consulates, or online from the Federal Voting Assistance Program.  (The site will open in a new window.)  Military and overseas voters who need to contact their County Election Board in Oklahoma can find e-mail addresses here.

Emergency Absentee Voters

Voters who become incapacitated after 5 p.m. on the Tuesday preceding an election may receive an absentee ballot through special emergency procedures. These voters must make a written request to the county election board. The request must be accompanied by a statement from a doctor that the voter is incapacitated and will be unable to vote in person on election day. The voter's request and the doctor's statement must be taken to the county election board office by a person the voter chooses. The person becomes the voter's "agent."

The county election board can provide a form to be used for both the voter's request and the doctor's statement.

The agent will receive the voter's ballot and will deliver it to the voter. After the voter marks the ballot, the agent must return it to the county election board office before 7 p.m. election day.

State Capitol Building, Room B-6
PO Box 53156
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73152
Telephone: 405-521-2391
Fax: 405-521-6457
[email protected]
http://www.ok.gov/elections/

PROTECT YOUR SECOND AMENDMENT RIGHTS
BY EXERCISING YOUR RIGHT TO VOTE!