Republicans take lead in state's registered voters

For the first time, Republicans are a majority of Oklahoma's voters.

Of the 2,259,113 Oklahomans in the official pre-election tally of registered voters for Tuesday's election, Republicans made up 50.01%. The last time a majority of voters belonged to one party prior to a presidential election was Nov. 1, 2004, when Democrats made up 51.3% of registered voters.

Democrats were 33.23% this year. The Oklahoma State Election Board releases official voter registration snapshots annually on Jan. 15, and on Nov. 1 in presidential election years. The total number of registered voters for Tuesday's balloting was the largest since Oklahoma began tracking pre-election voter registration statistics in 2000, the year Republican George W. Bush and Democrat Al Gore were running. Here's the list of total registered voter totals since the 2000 election:

• 2000: 2,233,602

• 2004: 2,143,978

• 2008: 2,184,092

• 2012: 2,114,713

• 2016: 2,157,450

• 2020: 2,259,113

Democrats lost their edge among registered voters in 2015, though Oklahomans had consistently voted Republican in presidential elections, with one exception, since 1952.

After supporting Franklin D. Roosevelt through the Dust Bowl and war years, and Harry S. Truman after Roosevelt's death, Oklahomans went for Texasborn Republican and former Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1952. Since then, the only Democrat to win Oklahomans' support for president was another Texan, Lyndon B. Johnson, in 1964.

Most recently, Oklahoma voters supported Republican presidential nominees John McCain in 2008, Mitt Romney in 2012 and Donald Trump in 2016.

[CHRIS LANDSBERGER/THE OKLAHOMAN] Stickers are prepared for voters after they cast their ballots at the United Methodist Church of the Good Shepherd in Yukon on Tuesday.