Celebrate National Voter Registration Day - By Registering to Vote!

Over 700,000 Oklahoma residents over the age of 18 are not registered to vote.

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September 19, 2023

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Today is National Voter Registration Day! Kirkpatrick Policy Group encourages everyone who can legally vote to register today if you haven’t already.

National Voter Registration Day (NVRD) is celebrated annually on the third Tuesday of September. First organized in 2012, NVRD is the nation’s largest, nonpartisan civic holiday dedicated to celebrating our democracy by registering to vote as many eligible Americans as possible.

Since that first 2012 celebration, the holiday has helped more than five million Americans register to vote through the collective efforts of thousands of volunteers, nonprofit organizations, businesses, schools, libraries, and election officials from all over the country. The holiday aims to reach the scores of Americans (and Oklahomans) who either haven’t yet registered to vote, or simply need to update their registration due to a recent move, name change, or other reason.

For democracy to work, it must include everyone. Every year, millions of eligible voters are unable to cast a ballot because of missed deadlines, outdated information, or other easily fixable problems. Potential voters get caught in a vicious cycle that sees unregistered citizens become non-voters who are then ignored by political campaigns which, in turn, can leave these citizens disenchanted with the electoral process.

According to 2020 post-election U.S. Census data, as many as one in four eligible voters in the country were either not registered to vote or didn’t know whether they were registered to vote. For communities of color, young adults, and other already underrepresented parts of the electorate, the numbers were even more stark.

According to the Oklahoma Election Board, there were 2.3 million registered voters in Oklahoma as of August 31, 2023. U.S. Census data estimated Oklahoma’s total population to be 4.01 million people in July 2022, of which 23.7 percent were under 18, making the state’s voting-age population at that time about 3.06 million.

That’s over 700,000 Oklahoma residents over the age of 18 who are not registered to vote.

For context, Governor Kevin Stitt defeated Joy Hofmeister in the 2022 Oklahoma gubernatorial race by 157,580 votes. State Superintendent Ryan Walters defeated Jena Nelson in the 2022 state superintendent race by 155,279 votes. About 1.15 million total votes were cast in each of those races. In effect, about 29 percent of Oklahoma’s population decided who would serve in these vitally important state offices.

Who knows how more registered voters in Oklahoma would have changed the outcome of those elections?

How do we fix this? Easy, make sure that you, your family, and your friends who meet eligibility requirements are registered to vote. Oklahomans can now register to vote online using the OK Voter Portal’s Online Voter Registration System. (An Oklahoma Driver License/State ID and a signature on file with Service Oklahoma is required.)

You can register by mail by filling out a Voter Registration Application using the OK Voter Portal “wizard.” (You must print, sign, and mail or hand deliver the application to your County Election Board to complete the process.)

You can download a Voter Registration Application from the State Election Board website. Applications are also available at your County Election Board, most tag agencies, libraries, and post offices. Applications must be mailed or hand delivered to your County Election Board to complete the process.

You can register in person at your County Election Board office, or you can register at your local tag agency when you apply for, update, or renew your Driver License or State ID. Submitted applications will be mailed to the State Election Board by the agent at no cost.

Oklahoma residents in the uniformed services or overseas can register to vote by visiting the Oklahoma Election Board’s Military/Overseas Voters page for special instructions.

Happy National Voter Registration Day! Go out and make Oklahoma (and America) a better place.