Tulsa County Voters Could Be Turned Away Due To Precinct Boundary Changes

Thousands of Tulsa County voters could be turned away when they try to cast a ballot next month.

The election board changed some precinct boundaries and thousands of voters didn't get notified of the change – mainly because many voters moved without updating their address with election officials. The boundary changes are required every decade after new census data comes in.

At the election board, boxes of returned mail arrive each day. They’re the voter identification cards that were mailed out over two weeks in April. Every voter should have received one because every precinct was renumbered, and some were relocated. Voters who didn’t receive a new card may be unable to vote if they go to their former precinct, according to Election Board Secretary Gwen Freeman. ”So they may be showing up at a precinct where they've voted for years only to realize all of sudden, 'I don't vote here anymore.” The next election is the June 28th primary. "There's a lot of cases where voters don't bother to change their registration with us and they keep going to the old precinct location,” said Freeman.

The election board recommends voters who didn’t get a card check the state voter portal and update their mailing address. On the site, new voters can register, and voters who have moved between counties in Oklahoma can re-register at their new address.

The deadline to register for the upcoming primary is Friday, June 3.