Early voting begins Thursday in runoffs that feature two statewide races for Democratic voters and runoffs for both parties in the 5th District U.S. House contest.
Democrats will choose nominees in a U.S. Senate race and for Superintendent of Public Instruction. Several state House and Senate contests are also on the ballot.
eCapitol's Shawn Ashley told KGOU's Ben Fenwick it's the first time Oklahoma has had statewide races in a runoff in August, and that could affect voter turnout.
"We really don't know who's going to show up," Ashley says. "And the campaigns don't know how to reach out to voters."
The initial primary contests took place June 24, and University of Oklahoma political scientist Keith Gaddie says that means Tuesday's contests might as well be an entirely new election.
"This runoff roughly times to when we used to have our runoffs back when we had late July primaries," Gaddie says. "So we have experience with an August runoff. We just don't have any experience with an August runoff with a two-month wait."
Early voting takes place from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday and Friday, and continues Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at county election boards.
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