Voter rolls grow across Oklahoma

BY JULIE BISBEE and PAUL MONIES
Published: October 23, 2008 in The Oklahoman

In Stephens County, the Republican Party’s annual chili cook-off seems to be paying off. Republicans in the southern Oklahoma county increased their rolls by 18 percent, or 1,393, according to preliminary voter registration information analyzed by The Oklahoman. At the same time, the number of independent voters grew, while Democrats saw a loss of about 1,218 local registered voters. Stephens is one of a handful of counties seeing an increase in the number of people who are registered as Republicans or independents.

Republican leaders say good local candidates are helping their cause. Democratic leaders say their new voter efforts have been focused on younger voters in all counties. It’s been a little more than 10 days since voter registration closed for the Nov. 4 election. County election boards are still entering new voter information, but preliminary numbers show that Oklahoma’s voter rolls are growing, said Michael Clingman, state Election Board secretary.

The state has 2,179,603 voters as of Wednesday evening. Of that number, Democrats account for 1,077,984. Republicans add 857,834 voters and there are 243,785 registered independents. Since November 2004, the state has added 35,625 voters to the rolls, figures show.
Democrats still make up about half of all registered voters, but counties that were once Democratic strongholds are seeing small changes in their party affiliation.

"We’ve had a lot of people change,” said Steve Fair, chairman of the Stephens County Republican party. "A lot of people have always been aligned with the Republican Party morally, now they’re finally changing. I haven’t seen this much excitement for a national election in Oklahoma since Ronald Reagan.”

Fair said the Republican Party in Stephens County has spent the last five years educating voters about the differences in the parties, whether it be at chili cook-offs or fish fries.
"It’s finally paying off,” he said. Read the entire story at: http://newsok.com/voter-rolls-grow-across-oklahoma/article/3314508