Deadline Approaching To Request Absentee Ballot

The deadline to request an absentee ballot in Oklahoma for the November 3rd general election is Tuesday. The Tulsa County Election Board is expecting to receive a record number of requests.

Gwen Freeman, Secretary of the Tulsa County Election Board, said they will likely send out 100,000 absentee ballots. She said they have already sent more than 70,000 out and about half have already been returned.

She said they have processed ballots as they arrived through mail and hand delivery. Freeman said 500-700 people are turning in ballots over the counter each day.

Freeman said to get requests in as soon as possible so applications can be completed, ballots can be filled out and returned.

“Make sure that the postal service has plenty of time to get it to us, or bring it down as soon as possible and hand deliver it,” said Freeman. “If you’re going to mail it, make sure you give it at least a week to get through the postal service to us so it will insure that it gets to us on time.”

The faster ballots get completed and returned, the better chance the election board will have to get results in a timely manner on election night.

“If everyone waited until the last minute to turn their absentee ballots or mail their absentee ballots in then it’s going to cause a bit of a back log here at the election board,” said Freeman. “I thin you’re doing everybody in Tulsa County a favor by getting those absentee ballots in as quickly as you possibly can.”

The last day to request an absentee ballot is Tuesday. You can apply for one online at The Oklahoma State Election Board website