Earlier this month, communities around the state and country celebrated Independence Day. The Declaration of Independence, signed on July 4, 1776, proclaimed our freedom from England. After defeating the British, fundamental freedoms and rights of the people became the foundation of this great nation, including the right to vote.This is a privilege denied to so many around the world—one that many die for trying to get every day. For that reason, I’m disheartened when I see our participation rates in local, county, state, and national elections. While nearly 70% of registered voters participated in last year’s general election, which was pretty good, those percentages plummet the more local elections get. In most communities, participation in local elections, like for school board or city council, are less than 20% yet those particular elected positions may have a greater impact on citizens’ daily lives than the national elections. All elections are important, and we shouldn’t focus on certain ones more than others. It’s our civic duty to participate and let our voices be heard.I say this to encourage everyone to continue the patriotic spirit and participate in all elections. Many brave sons and daughters have laid down their lives to protect our freedoms and we need to honor that sacrifice by taking full advantage of all our many rights, including voting.In case you missed it, I’m excited to share that the State Election Board recently launched a new online voter registration system that can be accessed from a desktop or mobile device. The new system will match and verify the data from an applicant’s Oklahoma driver license or state identification card. You can register to vote at okvoterportal.okelections.us/Home.Hopefully, this will make it easier for more Oklahomans to get registered to vote. Earlier this year, the Election Board reported that just over 2.2 million citizens were registered, leaving 784,000 eligible Oklahomans still needing to take this important step.The agency also had to remove just over 2,800 duplicate registrations, along with another nearly 84,000 inactive voter registrations as part of the legally required process that must be conducted every two years following a general election. The inactive accounts were for voters who failed to confirm their address in 2019 and then had no voter activity through the 2022 General Election.Be on the lookout as the Election Board sent out another round of address confirmation notices to hopefully keep even more voters from being removed ...
