Election board secretary offers voting tips

Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, June 24, for the Primary Election. Osage County Election Board Secretary Andrea Conner offered voters tips on how to make their votes count.

Conner said that a valid ballot marking is important. If voters make mistakes marking their ballots, Conner said they should not try to correct those errors. Instead, a voter should return the spoiled ballot to precinct officials, who will destroy it and issue a new ballot to the voter.

She also urged voters to take their voter identification cards with them to the polls. “Your voter ID card (issued by the County Election Board) can help precinct officials find your name in the Precinct Registry, and it may help them resolve the problem if you are not listed in the Registry for some reason,” Conner explained. Alternatively, voters can bring an unexpired photo ID card issued by the U.S. government, the state of Oklahoma, or a federally recognized tribal government.

Voters without ID or whose names are not found in the Precinct Registry, or voters who disagree with the information shown in the Registry, may always cast a provisional ballot. A provisional ballot is sealed in a special envelope and counted after election day if the voter’s information can be verified by the County Election Board.

Conner said that voters who want to get through the line quickly should vote at mid-morning or mid-afternoon, because those usually are the two slowest periods.

“Anyone who is eligible and in line at the polling place at 7 p.m. on Tuesday will be entitled to vote,” she said.