Norman, OK – Oklahoma voters will go to the polls Tuesday to choose their parties’ presidential nominees, and voter turnout could look different this year.

 Nearly one-third of the states hold their presidential primaries on Super Tuesday. Since 1988, Oklahoma has joined with what is now 16 other states to cast their ballots on the first Tuesday in March.

Only three candidates remain in the race: President Joe Biden, former President Donald Trump, and former South Carolina governor and United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley. All three have yet to visit Oklahoma, which could affect voter turnout.

“Trump and Haley not visiting Oklahoma doesn’t affect my vote,” said Republican Kyrtleigh Snow, 21, of Sulphur. “I feel like if candidates did take the time to come to Oklahoma that would benefit them but we are smaller states. So I’m used to them not visiting, it would have been cool if they did, but I didn’t expect them to.”

Oklahoma has a closed-party system that requires voters to cast ballots only in the primary of the party in which they are registered. But the Democratic Party has once again authorized registered Independents to vote in its primary. According to the Oklahoma State Election Board, registered Independents must request Democratic primary ballots to vote.

Open Primaries, a national nonpartisan organization, is focused on opening all closed primary elections to all voters, including Oklahoma. They have worked with an Oklahoma group, Oklahoma United, to help make sure Independent voter’s voices are heard.

“Independent voters are the fastest-growing group of voters in the country and fastest right in Oklahoma,” said Open Primaries Senior Vice President Jeremy Gruber. “They can’t vote in closed party primaries. We believe it is fundamentally unfair and fundamentally un-American that taxpaying citizens can’t vote in every election that they pay for.”

Open Primaries has launched a campaign, Let Us Vote, where Independent voters can share their stories, get involved and sign a petition to open closed primaries. They are also working with local leaders to pass laws in the state legislature.

“Young people more than any other group of voters in the country are going independent, well over half of millennial and Gen Z voters are independent voters,” Gruber said. “They’re  (independent voters) being shut out and we’re working to empower them by organizing independent voters and working with local leaders to pass laws in the legislature to support ballot initiatives, all with the goal of expanding access to primary elections.”

Registering as an Independent has become more common in Oklahoma, especially for younger voters. Before the last presidential primary, the Oklahoma State Election Board recorded that 332,111 people across the state had registered as Independents ahead of Super Tuesday 2020. As of Jan. 15, the board reported 436,041 voters had registered as Independents ahead of Super Tuesday 2024.

“I decided to vote independently because although I lean more towards the Democratic party, I felt that both parties have become so polarized,”  said Independent Sophie Beall, 21, of Norman. “This isn’t the case for everyone in each party but overall there is an intensity for me that came with choosing one or the other.”

“I also knew going into it that an independent vote can be seen as a waste to some people but I think it’s important to recognize that no one should be restricted to just two parties,” Beall said. “There are many countries that have more than just two parties to choose from and I would like to think that choosing to vote independently is not a waste because I’m voting for a candidate that I do support.”

The state election board also reported on Jan. 15 voter registration numbers of 1,190,626 Republicans and 652,611 Democrats. Opening their primary could potentially allow the number of registered Independents to help Democrats narrow the gap with Republicans. Despite this potential, some Democrats are still not hopeful.

“I don’t think there are enough registered Independents to sway anything significantly on the Democratic Party’s side of the primary,” said Sonny Wilkinson, former mayor and current Village City Council member.

Gaylord News is a reporting project of the University of Oklahoma Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication. For more stories by Gaylord News, go to GaylordNews.net.