OKLAHOMA CITY — Hundreds of thousands of Oklahomans whose voter registration was deleted in recent years roughly reflect the overall layout of party affiliation in the state, though Democrats and independents were overrepresented among voters deleted for inactivity.

Of the voters removed in the past 24 months, 46.6% were Republicans, 31.2% were Democrats, 21.4% were independents and 0.79% were Libertarians, according to an analysis by Oklahoma Voice of records available from the state Election Data Warehouse. This generally tracks with party affiliation trends of Oklahoma voters who are still registered. 

Over the past two years, Oklahoma removed 241,113 people from voter rolls, according to the state Election Data Warehouse, which keeps detailed records of deleted voters for 24 months after removal. The state recently announced more than 453,000 voter registrations have been removed through routine auditing since Jan. 1, 2021, a span of time that extends beyond legally required recordkeeping.

More than 2.38 million people are registered to vote in Oklahoma. Most voters who have been removed can register again. Those who wish to cast a ballot in the Nov. 5 General Election must register by Oct. 11.

The most common reason that registrations were deleted is because the voter moved to a different county or state, according to Data Warehouse records.

The second-most common deletions were for inactive voters, a group that differs more noticeably from party affiliation lines. Others were removed because they have died, been convicted of a felony or were deemed in court to be mentally incapacitated, among other less-common reasons.

State records show 83,701 voter registrations were deleted for inactivity. Most of these Oklahomans haven’t voted since 2016 or before, data shows.

Just under half of deleted inactive voters were from the same four counties: Oklahoma, Tulsa, Cleveland and Canadian, the only four counties in the state with 100,000 or more registered voters. About 55% of inactivity deletions came from less populous counties, according to a review of Election Warehouse data.

Democrats and independents made up a larger share of deleted inactive voters than their proportion of Oklahoma voters overall. While Democrats represent about 27.5% of registered voters in the state, they made up 34% of registrations deleted for inactivity. 

The numbers are even more disproportionate for independents, who represent 30% of the deleted inactive voters but make up only 19.5% of total registered voters in Oklahoma.

Meanwhile, about 52% of Oklahomans are registered Republicans, and about 35% of voters deleted for inactivity were registered with the GOP.

It’s no surprise that Democrats and independents show greater inactivity than Republicans in Oklahoma, said Pat McFerron, a conservative campaign consultant and polling expert. 

The vast majority of consequential partisan elections in Oklahoma are decided in Republican primaries, well before Democrats and independents get the chance to weigh in, McFerron said. Very few General Election races in the state are competitive enough to be decided by 10% or less of the vote.

When pollsters like McFerron call inactive voters, many say they’re unlikely to vote because they’re not interested in government and politics, he said, and the other common response is “they just don’t think their vote matters.”

Only the Democratic Party in Oklahoma has opened its primary elections to independent voters. The state’s Republican and Libertarian parties have not.

Implementing open or unified primaries could help engage more people, McFerron said. These concepts would allow registered voters to participate in primary elections regardless of their party affiliation, and it could make every candidate accountable to every voter.

A campaign to bring open or unified elections to Oklahoma is underway. McFerron said he is working with the initiative.

“Oklahoma is now 50th in the nation in voter turnout for November elections, and if we don’t do something to change it, we’re going to continue to have less and less civic engagement,” McFerron said.

Democratic campaign consultant Adam Graham agreed that open primaries could be a significant help, as would automatic voter registration or other measures to make it easier to register to vote.

Campaign messaging also must improve, he said.

Candidates of both parties are pushing to the extreme ends of the political spectrum and are too focused on culture-war issues, Graham said. That leaves moderate voters feeling left out and less inclined to show up to the polls. 

“I think we’ve got to start giving voters a message from candidates that they are interested in hearing about,” Graham said. “Property taxes, groceries, schools, teachers being paid. We’ve got to get back to the nuts and bolts of state government.”