Political Pulse

A swell of voters across the state headed to county election boards Friday, many of them waiting in line before the sun came up to cast their votes on this the first day of three days of early voting in Oklahoma.

“We’ve always voted, I’ve done absentee, I’ve done different things but usually you’re used to walking right up but now you can see that people are taking this election very serious with the economy and everything that’s going on,” said Niki Cullum, Tulsa.

Election board volunteers say they’ve never seen a turn-out like today’s. But, Shelly Boggs with the Tulsa County Election Board is staying conservative.
“We’re holding true with our 400 voters an hour and that’s pretty much what we did in 2004 although our lines are much longer this year than they were in 2004,” Boggs said.
She said if they had a bigger office, however, they would more than likely be processing about 500 ballots an hour.
That’s the approximate number they expect to see at the Oklahoma County Election Board by the end of business today.
There have been reports that folks are getting calls from the democratic and republican parties telling voters to get out to the polling precincts and vote early. But officials say the only place for early voting is at your local county election board.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Thousands of people are standing in line
outside the Oklahoma election board offices to participate in
early voting.
Hundreds stood outside the Oklahoma County Election Board while
a line extended two blocks outside the Cleveland County Election
Board.
Officials with the Tulsa County and Stephens County election
boards also report heavy early turnout.
This is the first of a three-day opportunity for people to cast
ballots in advance of Tuesday’s general election.
Early voting began on Friday and continues Saturday and Monday.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Chesapeake Energy Chief Executive Aubrey
McClendon has given $133,500 to candidates running for state office
this year.
The donations make him the top individual contributor in
Oklahoma.
Other Chesapeake employees have given just over $127,000 and a
political action committee associated with Chesapeake has
contributed $320,000.
The PAC Energy for Oklahomans gave $246,000 that amount to
Republican candidates.
Political action committees overall have given nearly $3.4
million to GOP candidates and just over $1.7 million to Democrats.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Supporters of a candidate for Corporation
Commission are rejecting allegations by her opponent that raise
questions about her integrity.
Republican Dana Murphy appeared at the state Capitol Friday
alongside GOP elected officials, including state Senate
co-President Pro Tem Glenn Coffee of Oklahoma City and Sen. Randy
Brogdon of Owasso.
Murphy’s Democratic opponent, Corporation Commission member Jim
Roth, has accused Murphy of forgery in an attack ad. Murphy has
said she never committed forgery but stops short of denying that
she signed her ex-father-in-law’s name on an oil and gas lease
document.
Murphy declined to further discuss details of the issue. Brogdon
says he can personally vouch for Murphy’s character.
Murphy - an oil and gas attorney and former administrative law
judge - says the campaign should be about qualifications, not
attacks.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - A national research organization says
political candidates in Oklahoma are less willing to tell voters
what their views are on important issues than candidates in most
other states.
A nationwide survey conducted by Project Vote Smart found that
80 percent of congressional candidates and 90 percent of state
legislative candidates refused to answer questions on issues of
public concern.
That ranks Oklahoma 47th among the 50 states in legislative
return rates, behind only Ohio and Iowa.
The Montana-based group’s senior adviser Adelaide Kimball says
her organization believes it’s crucial for candidates to be willing
to come clean with voters.
Kimball says most voters view candidate opinion surveys as a job
application. She says ignoring the survey contributes to cynicism
among voters.