Well, it turns out Sequoyah County Election Board Secretary Cindy Osborn was way off in her prediction about a record turnout for early voting.
She had initially said maybe 1,200 would vote from last Wednesday through last Saturday. Then she revised that estimate, suggesting “we may hit 1,800 this year.” Then midway through the first day of in-person early voting, Osborn thought as many as 500 voters could cast ballots that day.
Then the state election board confirmed the county election board made history last Wednesday when 603 voters exercised their Constitutional right, which was a record in the county for in-person voting prior to Election Day.
Then last Thursday, the one-day-old record was broken when 692 stood in line for up to two hours to vote early.
Last Friday, the new single-day record was eclipsed yet again when 750 voters turned out.
Then last Saturday, the final day of early voting when the polls were open only six hours (four hours less than each of the previous three days), 548 countians showed up to vote. While the total was less than the previous three record totals, the perhour total of more than 91 voters per hour was a record, which surpassed Friday’s previous record.
For the four days of early voting, 2,593 voters cast their ballots at the county election board, far outpacing the previous in-person early voting record of 1,534 in 2020, when the polls were open only three days.
But setting a record for early voting wasn’t enough for some residents. The county election board on Monday turned away as many as 100 voters who showed up for what they thought was a fifth day of early voting.
They were directed to their local precinct polling locations to cast their ballots last Tuesday.
While Sequoyah County voters were turning out in record numbers, so were voters in Oklahoma’s other 76 counties.
The state beat its previous record for inperson early voting by a whopping 73,000, according to Abby Smith at the Sequoyah County Election Board. Of the almost 393,000 mailin and early in-person votes cast across the state, 293,000 (or 74.5%) were in-person voting, which accounted for long lines that often wrapped around county election offices, and in some instances, for hundreds upon hundreds of yards.
More numbers
While voting by 2,593 was an all-time record for the county, it was only 10% of the 25,238 registered voters in the county. And if past elections — even those for president — are any indication, the majority of the county’s registered voters may allow the minority to decide for them. While presidential elections historically draw the most attention, less than 30% usually show up to vote.
Unless there’s a local race or even a state question tied to it.
In the 2016 county race for sheriff — which was tied to a presidential election — a robust 14,381 of 22,196 registered voters (64.8%) cast ballots. Four years later in 2020 — which was also a presidential election — 66.3% (15,291 of 23,063 registered voters) decided the county court clerk race.
This year, there were two state questions on the ballot, and state and national representatives were decided.
More than 76 million in-person early ballots were cast nationwide prior to Tuesday’s Election Day. And according to NBC News, the breakdown for early in-person and mail-in votes was 41% Democrats, 39% Republicans and 20% other. Additionally, 53% were votes cast by women and 44% by men, and based on age, 40% were 65 years or older, 27% were ages 50-64, and 33% were ages 18-49. (Totals in the “other” categories were for Jill Stein, Green Party; Chase Oliver, Libertarian Party; Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Independent; Claudia De La Cruz, Party for Socialism and Liberation; Randall Terry, Constitution Party; and Cornel West, Independent.)
Did county voters turnout last Tuesday in even greater numbers than for early voting? The election board won’t know until all the ballots are processed. Did voters nationwide surpass the more than 158 million who voted in the 2020 presidential election?
That total won’t be known until all absentee ballots are counted in all states, and until any audits or recounts are finalized.
The next presidential election is scheduled for Nov. 7, 2028, which is 1,462 days from now. Any guesses when the next campaign ads will start appearing?
