2021 School, Municipal, and Special Primary: Results

You can find all of the results from Oklahoma's February 9, 2021, elections here.

Acting Tulsa County Treasurer John Fothergill became treasurer in his own right with a 71%-29% Republican primary victory over Joe Hart. Turnout was 5,294 voters out of 186,076 eligible voters, or 4%.

Only 379 out of 15,770 eligible voters cast a ballot in the Tulsa School Board District 2 race. Judith Barba, who needed a translator to cope with a candidate forum but was able to raise $10,000 from Tulsa big-shots, won the election with 201 votes. If Theresa Hinman and Marsha Francine Campbell had received another 12 votes each, Barba would have been held short of a majority, and there would have been an April runoff.

The 2018 change to 26 O.S. § 13A-103 that moved two-candidate school board elections to April also applied the term General Election to the April vote and labeled the February election as a primary. Since the electorate for a primary is always smaller than a general election -- many voters prefer to wait until the candidates have been filtered down to a manageable number -- there ought to be a general election between the top two candidates, even if one candidate receives more than 50% in the primary. We already do this for some non-partisan district judge elections. The same rule ought to apply to school and municipal races.

By the way, that 2018 law also affected technology center (vo-tech) districts, which would explain why the Tulsa Technology Center Office 6 campaign has been quiet so far -- they won't be on the ballot until April. (I could swear I saw that race on the list for this election on the State Election Board website, but it's not there now.)

Collinsville school board: Pharmacy owner Ryan Flanary defeated incumbent Tim Reed, with 64% of the vote in a three-way race. (432 votes cast out of 9,378 eligible voters.)

Owasso school board: There will be an April runoff between Stephanie Ruttman (30.94%) and Rick Lang (24.30%). Kristin Vivar missed the runoff by 15 votes. This is a good case study for the value of instant runoff voting -- the 397 votes of the 4th and 5th place candidates were more than enough to produce any order of finish among the top three.

Owasso city council: Alvin Fruga defeated Kyle Davis, 63% to 37%, for the open seat:

Norman city council: Among the pro-police-funding Unite Norman candidates, Rarchar Tortorello won outright in Ward 5, Kelly Lynn survived to a runoff in Ward 3; Unite Norman candidates finished a close second in Wards 1 (losing in an open seat), 2 (a special election), and 7 (losing to an incumbent). At least they will have a seat at the table.

Oklahoma City city council: Incumbent Todd Stone was re-elected in Ward 4 with 64%. Stone opposes a mask mandate and lockdowns. Bradley Carter and Shay Varnell will face off in a runoff for Ward 1, receiving 26% and 19% respectively (with 7 candidates in the race, another good case study for instant runoff voting). Varnell is opposed to mask mandates; Carter did not respond to the Oklahoman's survey, but had support from conservatives in the Canadian County part of the far-northwest ward. In Ward 3, Jessica Martinez-Brooks and Barbara Young will advance to a runoff; both support restoring funding for police.

There were 29 school and municipal propositions statewide:

The two Jenks bond issues passed with 78% and 77% of the vote, respectively.

Town of Wapanucka voters approved a question unanimously, 33-0. A proposition in the City of Broken Bow passed 105-1. Crutcho Schools passed an issue by 15-1.

Only four propositions were defeated statewide: Leach Public Schools voters turned down a proposition, 35-64. Gotebo voters rejected two questions, 12-18. A Quinton Schools proposition fell short of the 60% margin; 15 more yes voters would have made the difference.

I wish I could tell you what these propositions were about, but after election day, there is no way to get to the sample ballots. Before election day, you can use a voter's name and date of birth to pull up his or her sample ballot for an upcoming election. There needs to be a more direct way. It would also be useful to have a central repository for election resolutions and public notices related to elections in Oklahoma. I should be able to go online and see the details of what Wapanuckans unanimously approved and what Gotebites (Goteboans?) rejected.