OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Republicans have surpassed Democrats in voter registration for the first time in Oklahoma history, the result of a decades-long trend in state politics.
Preliminary figures released Tuesday by the Oklahoma Election Board show Republicans with an 806-voter edge over Democrats in those registered. Of the more than 2 million registered voters, Republicans and Democrats had more than 43 percent each, with about 13 percent registered as independents. Official voter registration numbers will be released Monday.
“I’ve got to think that the likes of Henry Bellmon and Dewey Bartlett are tap dancing in heaven,” said Oklahoma Republican Party Chairman Dave Weston, referring to Oklahoma’s first two GOP governors. “We’re appreciative of their pioneering efforts, as well as those of many others.”
Oklahoma traditionally has been a Democratic state, but has a long history of voting for Republicans in federal elections. Oklahoma voters haven’t favored a Democrat in a presidential election since Lyndon Johnson in 1964.
When statewide voter registration records were first compiled in Oklahoma in 1960, about 82 percent of voters were Democrats compared to less than 18 percent Republicans. But the GOP has steadily increased its registration percentages, climbing to about 30 percent in 1985 and 38 percent in 2005. The GOP captured the state House in 2004 and the state Senate in 2008.
“This trend has been underway at this rate for about 40 years,” said Keith Gaddie, chairman of the political science department at the University of Oklahoma. “It’s not that everybody is going out and becoming a Republican. Republicans are running even or slightly better among new registrants, but overwhelmingly the folks who are dying are Democrats. It’s attrition.”
There also has been a steady increase in the number of registered independents in recent years, from about 8 percent in 2000 to more than 10 percent in 2005 to 13 percent this year.
Wallace Collins, chairman of the Oklahoma Democratic Party, said he’s not surprised Republicans finally caught up to Democrats, and that party officials must work harder to appeal to voters.
“Our work is laid out in front of us,” Collins said. “We need to get to work in the minority communities and working with young people to try to get them educated.
“At some point they’ll come to the realization about which party really reflects their best interests.”
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