Although it’s still three weeks until the November 3rd general election, voting is already well underway in Oklahoma. In Tulsa County, tens of thousands of mail-in absentee ballots have been received and are being validated and counted at the offices of t

ENGLISH

A mix of precinct officials and seasonal employees of the election board is busy opening envelopes, qualifying and ballots, a task they will be doing every day through election day and afterwards to make sure all votes are counted.

To keep the process secure, the counting takes place behind locked doors and visitors are not allowed into the counting room.

Bruce Niemi is Vice Chair of the Tulsa County Election Board and arranged for La Semana to observe the process, although from a distance to ensure the privacy of the ballots. Niemi said over 60,000 absentee ballots were requested and mailed out for this year’s general election, more than three times the number from four years ago. He attributed this to more people wanting to vote by mail due to concerns about the coronavirus, and to heightened enthusiasm about the presidential race.

Surprisingly, Niemi said only about one percent of the ballots received so far have been disqualified, and in those cases it was because voters forgot to sign or completely fill out the affidavit envelope, or neglected to include a copy of their valid, unexpired ID or voter card.

“62 were disqualified on Friday and 40 on Monday,” he said. “It’s a pretty low number.”

Gwen Freeman, Secretary of the Tulsa County Election Board, wants voters to know about a change to early in-person voting, which traditionally has taken place at the Election Board’s office on Denver Avenue and at the regional library in South Tulsa. This year, early in-person voting will only be available at Drillers Stadium ONEOK Field, located at 201 N. Elgin Ave.

The open air stadium was chosen because of COVID-19 safety concerns and the stadium’s ability to accommodate a large number of voters.

Early voting for the November 3 election will be held on Thursday October 29 and Friday October 30 from 8 am - 6 pm and on Saturday October 31 from 9 am- 2 pm.

Absentee mail in ballots may be requested online at https://okvoterportal.okelections.us/, or you can download a form and mail it in. Absentee requests must be received by Tuesday, October 27 at 5:00 p.m.

All absentee ballots must be in the hands of the Election Board no later than 7:00 pm on November 3rd if they are to be counted. Voters choosing to vote using this method are encouraged to return their ballots as soon as possible to avoid any risk that they won’t arrive in time.

Niemi said it is important to pay close attention to the instructions to ensure your ballot is counted. (La Semana)