Oklahoma Candidates Make Last Minute Push For Votes

Lacie Lowry, News On 6

TULSA, Oklahoma -- Sunday was not a day of rest for political candidates in Oklahoma.

Election day is Tuesday and candidates and campaigns were hitting the streets from Tulsa to Oklahoma City looking for one more vote.

The latest Sooner Poll shows Jari Askins trailing Mary Fallin by 18 points, and State Question 744 headed for defeat by 45 points.

Askins said she is happy with the title of underdog.

"I'm kind of a surprise factor," she said. "I think I'm always the unknown. I never have enough as much money, I never have the out-of-state support because my support has always come from just folks in Oklahoma."

Askins is stumping across the state ahead of Election Day. She spoke to the congregation at All Souls Unitarian in Tulsa Sunday morning.

"We also try to spend time reaching those undecided voters," she said. "Or the voters who are so frustrated and angry about things that are going on that they just think they are going to stay home, they don't feel like they have an option."

The current lieutenant governor said her platform, which centers around education and the state working smarter with the money it actually has, is much more important than any poll.

"I know that there's polling we do internally and I know the race is much closer than is indicated," Askins said.

Meanwhile, Mary Fallin said she isn't counting on her lead in the polls, and she's not letting it slow her down. Supporters scoured the state trying to round up votes on Saturday.

Supporters hit 50 towns in just four hours, from Miami to Antlers, Lawton to Woodward. Fallin also held a huge rally in Oklahoma City where she told voters the most important thing they can do is cast a ballot.

"You know the main thing I hear is people are just concerned about their future. They're concerned about having a job, being able to support their families, concerned about their businesses and the recession and how that's affected their livelihoods. So, that's been my core focus," Fallin said.

Fallin will bring her campaign to Tulsa on Tuesday to rally last-minute voters.

Both sides of State Question 744 are also trying to get last minute voters.

Support for the YES on 744 campaign across the state has recently been lagging in the polls.

"We've seen that the polls really don't matter," said YES on 744 volunteer Kelsey Hewlett.

State question 744 would require the state to increase its spending per student to the regional average. Originally leading with strong numbers, the polls now show support drastically slipping for the YES camp.

"It's been back and forth and back and forth. The only polling that really matters is the one that happens on Election Day, that's it, and we know we are fighting the good fight. We are on the right side of this," Hewkett said.

Gov. Brad Henry has continued to throw his behind the opposition to State Question 744. Henry has said while education needs to be a priority in the state, 744 is not the answer.

"Simply put, State Question 744 is just the wrong way to go about it," Gov. Henry told reporters gathered in the Capitol's Blue Room recently.

He and his wife Kim Henry have recently appeared in television ads together asking Oklahomans to vote against the question.

But both sides are continuing their fight by hitting up neighborhoods and making sure Oklahomans actually vote on Tuesday because both sides know, a big factor will be the undecided vote.

Eleven percent of voters polled on State question 744 were undecided and in the governor's race, 6 percent were undecided just days before the election.

Learn more on the candidates and campaigns