Votes not yet tallied

There actually is a bit of suspense left this evening. The Oklahoma State Election Board, which would normally be at 100% by now, is showing 309 precincts out of 2244 yet to report. 72 of these are in Tulsa County and 75 are in Oklahoma County.

The biggest Republican precinct in Tulsa County, 720174, which votes at the ORU Mabee Center, had ballot scanner problems and had to accept marked ballots in a sealed emergency ballot box. When this happens, even if they get the scanner back up and running, they have to zero the machine and scan all the ballots through. I suspect that those numbers are not yet in the online totals.

Here's a telling fact: House District 69, which includes precinct 720174, is showing only 7 of 17 precincts reporting. It's a strongly Republican district.

Here's where it gets interesting. Republicans appear to have gained two seats in the State Senate, regaining Senate 24 in Stephens County and winning Senate 12 in Creek County, bringing that body to a 24-24 tie. (Would have been a 25-23 Republican majority if not for Nancy Riley's defection.)

So it all comes down to the Lt. Governor's seat. Although Democrat Jeri Askins is leading, it's close enough that Todd Hiett could win with a strong finish in the traditionally Republican precincts that haven't yet been counted. The remaining votes could also switch the lead in the Labor Commissioner's race, but there probably aren't enough of them to make a difference in the Auditor's or Insurance Commissioner's race, which are not quite as close

UPDATE 11:50 p.m.: Evidently not. We're now at 2214 precincts out of 2244, and Hiett is still lagging by 29,000 votes. But 28 of the remaining 30 precincts are in Tulsa County.

In the Tulsa County Associate District Judge race, challenger Dana Kuehn leads incumbent Caroline Wall by about 250 votes.