Republicans and independents continue voter registration surge in Oklahoma
Published: October 1st, 2012
Republicans and Independents continue to close the voter registration gap with the state’s Democratic party, but brand new numbers indicate that all three political designations have more adherents than just a few weeks ago.
For that matter, even the moribund Americans Elect party has more members than before the June 26 primary.
Republicans jumped to 873,351 (42.2 percent of all voters), compared to 851,759 before the primary. Independent voters now number 244,562 (11.8 percent), a jump from the 235,321 registrants just three months ago. Americans Elect had only six registered members in June, but the essentially-defunct party now has 16.
As for the Sooner State’s Democratic party, 950,223 are in the once-dominant party (46 percent), compared to 942,987 registrants in June.
Election Board Secretary Paul Ziriax described the recent trend for CapitolBeatOK: “Since January, there has been a net increase of 45,094 Republicans, a net increase of 15,492 Independents, and a net increase of 6,940 Democrats. Also back in January, Democrats were 47.1 percent of registered voters, Republicans were 41.4 percent, and Independents were 11.5 percent.”
Despite the modest surge for once-dominant Democrats, their fortunes continue to decline, proportionately. In June, the GOP had 42 percent of the registered electorate, that jumped .2 percent. Independents in June were 11.59 percent of the electorate, they constitute 11.8 percent of voters today.
Just ten years ago, 53.7 percent of Oklahoma’s registered voters were Democrats, while Republicans were 36.3 percent and Independents amounted to 10 percent.
A notable tipping point came early in 2010, when the number of registered Democrats dropped below 1 million for the first time in modern state history.
CapitolBeatOK tracked the registration numbers regularly in recent years; a comprehensive listing drawn from the Election Board’s archives is below:
Year Democrat Republican Independent Total
1996 1,112,560 624,240 86,948 1,823,748
1997 1,171,620 693,076 122,139 1,986,982
1998 1,158,754 691,942 139,626 1,990,591
1999 1,183,523 718,534 157,760 2,059,817
2000 1,189,332 734,382 174,649 2,098,750
2001 1,233,481 803,908 202,266 2,240,681
2002 1,079,298 729,393 199,164 2,008,036
2003 1,099,458 758,275 214,887 2,072,935
2004 1,022,442 720,121 195,334 1,938,377
2005 1,100,263 822,131 227,163 2,149,557
2006 1,021,053 778,405 209,515 2,008,973
2007 1,045,490 805,607 224,464 2,075,561
2008 1,012,594 790,713 219,230 2,022,537
2009 1,077,616 860,378 246,002 2,183,996
2010 999,855 813,158 225,607 2,038,620 (Jan)
2010 998,139 831,706 233,768 2,063,613 (Sept)
2011 999,943 849,332 240,855 2,090,130 (Jan)
2012 942,987 851,759 235,321 2,030,073* (Jun)
2012 950,223 873,351 244,562 2,068,152* (Sept)
* six voters were registered with Americans Elect in June; 16 are today.
You may contact Patrick B. McGuigan at Patrick@capitolbeatok.com and follow us on
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Twitter: @capitolbeatok.