Tuesday, August 9, 2011

SD 43 GOP Primary Day: How Low The Turnout?

There's a Republican special primary election in Senate District 43 today, with the turnout likely to be a record low.

The race, which hasn't drawn much attention, is a face-off between political newcomers Greg Childers of Del City and Theresa Nelson of Oklahoma City.

The winner faces Kenneth Meador, of Moore, the only Democrat in the race, in the October 11 special general election.

Childers has out-raised Nelson, but neither has raised the kind of cash that has come to mark competitive Senate races in recent years.

The winner will serve the remaining year left in the District 43 seat, vacated by the election of  Jim Reynolds of Oklahoma City, who was elected Cleveland County's treasurer in November. He resigned his Senate seat in July.

As of 4 p.m. Monday, an hour before in-person absentee voting ended, it is reported, only two voters had cast ballots in Cleveland County during the three days, said Jim Williams, the county's election board secretary.

“We really didn't expect a whole lot here at our office for in-person because that Senate district is way up in the northwest part of the county,” Williams said. “I didn't expect it to be this low.”

The district includes southern Oklahoma County and northern Cleveland County and is the first legislative election under the state's new proof-of-identity law.

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