The deadline is approaching for voters to change party affiliations.
March 31 is the deadline for registered voters to change parties or designate as an independent.
May 22 is the cutoff date for first-time voters to register to participate in upcoming primaries, according to the Oklahoma State Election Board.
State law has a blackout period from April 1 until Aug. 31 to change party affiliation, said Paul Ziriax, Oklahoma State Election Board secretary.
If a party change is submitted during that time, it won’t be processed until after the blackout period, he said.
“You can change your party affiliation at any time,” Ziriax said. “It’s just the only time it cannot be processed is April 1 through Aug. 31 of an even year.”
During this election cycle, no party submitted the paperwork to allow independents to vote in their primaries, although Democrats in the past had allowed the practice.
“We have closed primaries, so if you want to vote in the Democratic primary and you’re not a registered Democrat, you have to switch to the Democratic Party by March 31 or you are not going to be able to,” Ziriax said.
Meanwhile, an initiative petition in the form of State Question 836 which sought to open primaries by amending the Oklahoma Constitution, failed to get sufficient signatures to get on the ballot.
Voters can change party affiliation and register using the Oklahoma State Election Board’s voter portal.
As of Jan. 15, Oklahoma had slightly more than 2.4 million voters. Of those, nearly 1.3 million were Republicans, 609,265 were Democrats, 491,294 million were independents and 23,332 were Libertarians.
Primary elections are June 16, followed by runoff elections on Aug. 25.
The general election is Nov. 3.
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