[Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly cited the outcome of the OKC Ward 4 City Council race. The outcome has since been updated. NonDoc regrets the error and apologizes for any confusion it may have caused.]
The Oklahoma City Public School Board elections emerged as the hottest races Tuesday, as all three positions up for grabs will head to a runoff election scheduled for April 4.
Paula Lewis and Stanley Hupfeld wound up basically neck and neck in the race for board chairperson, with a margin of only 2.5 percentage points separating the two. The same margin separated Charles Henry from Cheryl Poole in the race for Office 1, while 3.3 points separated Rebecca Budd from Nick Singer.
Similarly, Oklahoma City’s Ward 4 contest will have to be decided in a future election, as veteran politician Richard Morrissette (48.0 percent) failed to garner a majority of votes over second-place finisher Todd Stone (33.3 percent).
Otherwise, results were mostly cut and dry in OKC’s City Council elections, where winners include:
- Ward 1: James Greiner
- Ward 3: Larry McAtee
- Ward 7: John Pettis, Jr.
McAtee is a longstanding incumbent, while both Grenier and Pettis are more recent incumbents who are well-liked for their youth and vision.
Election results listed here are based off unofficial data posted at the Oklahoma State Election Board.
Contextualizing voter turnout
According to information provided by the Oklahoma County Election Board, 135,439 people are registered to vote in OKCPS board chairperson elections. On Tuesday, only 7,833 did.
That translates to a 5.8 percent voter turnout for the election of who will lead the board of the state’s largest school district. The district’s voter registration data stands as follows, with turnout percentages from Tuesday’s election listed next to wards that featured races.
- Total Chair Race: 135,439 (5.8 percent)
- District 1: 25,411 (6.9 percent)
- District 2: 25, 826 (8.7 percent)
- District 3: 14,857
- District 4: 20,832
- District 5: 21,203
- District 6: 13,778
- District 7: 13,532
Even lower voter turnout affected Tuesday’s OKC City Council races. The following data reflect registered voters per ward and the percentage turnout for those wards that voted Tuesday.
- Total OKC registrants: 256,017
- Ward 1: 32,853 (4.9 percent)
- Ward 2: 41,117
- Ward 3: 18,511 (4.1 percent)
- Ward 4: 26,532 (5.1 percent)
- Ward 5: 11,682
- Ward 6: 24,013
- Ward 7: 44,400 (6.9 percent)
- Ward 8: 56,909
Perusing the rest of Oklahoma County’s election results yields additional examples of low voter turnout.
The county election board lists 960 registered voters in Crutcho Public Schools, meaning only 2.9 percent of those who could have voted for the small district’s proposal did so Tuesday. (The district’s website appears not to list any information about Tuesday’s vote.)
Similarly, Warr Acres’ City Council Ward 3 has 1,095 registered voters, meaning only 2.5 percent went to the polls to choose between Jimmy Bullen and Roger Godwin as their municipal representative.
