Early Voting Period Brings Record Turnout In Oklahoma, Officials Say

Early voting is now over for the Super Tuesday primary and Oklahoma officials are reporting record turnouts.

Election boards across the state held the final day of early voting on Saturday.

In Rogers County, exercising the right to vote early became a family event.

The Mills family drove to Claremore from Chelsea to make sure their voice was heard at the ballot box.

“It's just something we knew we wanted to get out and get done, and like I said, we know rural areas need that option because it's hard to get to the polls on time," Debbie Mills said.

Amy Mills said her commute makes it difficult to vote on Tuesday.

“I knew I wasn't going to get a chance on Tuesday, because I work in Tulsa and I'm registered in Chelsea," she said.

The early-voting period is a way to accommodate voters who want their voice to be heard.

“We used to be open on Monday for early voting that doesn't happen anymore,” Rogers County Election Board Secretary Julie Dermody said. “Early voting is now on Thursdays and Fridays for state and national elections it is on Saturdays as well from 9 to 2 and that's across the state."

Dermody said early voter turnout for the 2016 Super Tuesday primary is setting records.

“I knew I had a business trip planned earlier in the week didn't know how I would make it on Tuesday,” voter David Foster said. “I called here last Thursday, and they said, 'Come down for early voting, Sir, and I'm just ecstatic that I had that option on a Saturday to come down and vote.”

Election officials are urging voters to get those absentee ballots mailed out as soon as possible, because Tuesday night when all these returns start coming in is the last possible chance you can cast absentee ballots.

The polls will open on Tuesday at 7 a.m. and close at 7 p.m.