Oklahomans have until October 11 to register to vote in the upcoming November elections. Registration is available online through the Oklahoma Voter Portal.

Tulsa voter Bob Sober emphasized the importance of voting regardless of political affiliation.

“I’m aware,” Sober said. “But everyone has to vote, whether we agree with it, Republican or Democrat, liberal, independent, you still have to vote.”

A recent social media post from Governor Kevin Stitt about the routine purging of voter rolls raised concerns among many voters. Julie Dermody, secretary of the Rogers County Board of Elections, said her office has received several inquiries from people wanting to verify their registration status. She explained that most of the purged voters were inactive voters who had likely left years ago.

“The inactive voters are people who probably haven’t voted in eight years, and sometimes they’re people who have moved and just haven’t registered to vote in their new location,” Dermody said.

The Oklahoma State Election Board regularly updates its voter rolls and removes those who are no longer eligible. Governor Stitt cited a figure of 423,000 voters removed over the past three years, including convicted felons, duplicate registrations, deceased voters and approximately 143,000 voters who have left the state.

Meanwhile, Tulsa’s Young Professionals group is working to increase community involvement by registering voters and hosting meet-and-greets for candidates.

“We’re registering people in every party, we’re having conversations across the spectrum,” says Lauren Miers, who helps lead Government Relations for the group. “It doesn’t matter how you vote or which party you are registered with, we want you to come out, exercise your right to vote and cast an informed vote.”