Tulsa County Election Board Details What Makes Oklahoma Elections Safe, Accurate

Several offices at the national and local levels will be decided by voters throughout the year. The Tulsa County Election Board wants people to know Oklahoma’s elections are some of the safest and most accurate in the country.

Staff said the state’s paper ballot system, voter ID requirements and the ballot scanners all contribute to the tight security and high accuracy of each election.

Tulsa County’s first election day of the 2024 calendar is just days away, but preparations for all six of this year’s election days have been well underway.

The scanners where voters insert their ballots and the flash drives recording the data have strong security features.

“They actually had Oklahoma Cyber Command try to hack one of these devices,” said Tommy Neal, Tulsa County Election Board. “In that attempt when they tried to hack it, it rendered that storage device useless so it could not be used any longer.”

Workers say there is a series of checks and balances which includes keeping at least one Republican and one Democrat at each precinct. Both of the major parties are also represented during other processes.

“Our uniformed system allows for quick and accurate reporting of election outcomes,” said Gwen Freeman, secretary of the Tulsa County board. “Many and most cases we have same-day election results.”

Since a global pandemic isn’t an issue this year, Freeman is expecting more people to vote in person instead of by absentee ballot.

Her problem is finding enough poll workers and property owners to offer their spaces as voting locations for each of the county’s 238 precincts.

“Our recruitment efforts over the past three years have yielded very little results,” said Freeman. “I’ve tried very hard since 2020.”

Freeman said elections can only happen with public participation. To guarantee election integrity, she is hopeful more people will get involved in the process.