More than two million Oklahomans will be eligible to vote in November’s general election, according to numbers released Thursday by the State Election Board.
About 2,014,000 Oklahomans are registered to vote, a net increase of more than 35,000 since Jan. 15, State Election Board Secretary Paul Ziriax reported Wednesday.
Republicans now make up the largest share of voters since 1960 when the board began compiling statewide voter registration statistics, accounting for 43.6 percent of voters. Democrats make up 43.8 percent of the voters and still outnumber the GOP, according to the State Election Board, just 5,100 voters more than Republicans.
The two major political parties are closer to parity than at any time since the State Election Board began keeping the statewide registration data.
The deadline to register to be eligible to vote in the the Nov. 4 general election is October 10. Oklahomans will elect a successor to U.S. Senator Tom Coburn. His retirement caused the rare occurrence of both Senators appearing on the same ballot. Oklahoma's senior Republican Jim Inhofe faces Democratic challenger Matt Silverstein.
Voters will also decide who replaces U.S. Rep. James Lankford, who's vacating his Fifth Congressional District seat to run for Coburn's Senate post. Democratic State Sen. Al McAffrey goes up against former State Sen. and Iraq war veteran Steve Russell. Lankford faces Democratic nominee State Sen. Connie Johnson.
Term-limited Democratic state Rep. Joe Dorman of Rush Springs is challenging incumbent Republican Gov. Mary Fallin for the state's top job.
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