2012 Election Year Date Changes Listed

Election Board Secretary Paul Ziriax has prepared a new 2012 election year calendar based on changes made by new laws passed this year.

Impacting events in the election year was the “Let The Troops Vote Act” (HB 1615). HB 1615 protects the voting rights of military personnel by requiring absentee ballots to be sent to them at least 45-days before state and federal elections. (A 2009 federal law also requires absentee ballots to be sent to uniformed voters 45-days before federal elections.) HB 1615 makes several adjustments to the election calendar to accommodate the 45-day deadline, including moving the candidate filing period from early June to mid-April and moving the Primary Election from late July to late June. The Primary Runoff remains in late August.

Another bill, HB 1614, changes the date of Oklahoma’s Presidential Preferential Primary from early February to early March. The governor has already signed HB 1614.

Under the provisions of these two bills, Oklahoma’s new election calendar will look like this beginning in 2012:
First Tuesday in March: - Presidential Preferential Primary
Second Wednesday in April: - 3-day candidate filing period begins
Last Tuesday in June: - Primary Election
Fourth Tuesday in August: - Primary Runoff Election
First Tuesday after the first Monday in November: - General Election

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