Mar. 2—The primaries for presidential candidates for the election in November are in full swing, and go through Sept. 10, with Delaware, New Hampshire and Rhode Island being the last states to hold the primary.

According to the Oklahoma.gov website, early voting is available to anyone and no reason is needed. This year early voting in Oklahoma is Feb. 29 through March 2.

“You can vote early in your county at your designated early voting location from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on the Thursday and Friday preceding an election. You must vote in the county where you are registered,” states the site.

Early voting is also available from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the Saturday immediately preceding a state or federal primary election, runoff primary election, general election or presidential preferential primary election. Early voting is also available from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. the Wednesday preceding the general election, states the site.

Cherokee County Election Board Secretary Tiffany Rozell said the presidential preferential primary — super Tuesday — is March 5. The general election is Nov. 5.

“What you are selecting is who you want for your candidate in the presidential [race],” Rozell said. “There are the Democratic, Republican and Libertarian ballots. The people that are registered within those parties will choose who they want to represent them come November.”

There are several candidates on the ballots that dropped out of the race after the ballots were printed.

“Oklahoma did their drawing in December and there have been several candidates who have dropped since then,” Rozell said.

The Independent party is not recognized in Oklahoma, but Independents will be able to vote in the Democratic primary, Rozell said.

“Every two years the parties vote whether to allow Independents to vote their ticket. Republicans and Libertarians this year voted no and Democrats voted yes. And that’s usually how it goes,” Rozell said.

In the general election, everyone gets the same ballot and the voter does not have to stay within party lines, Rozell said.

Mark Sontag works at the precincts as a judge, clerk and inspector, and does whatever job needs doing.

“The clerk checks IDs to see if you are on the rolls; the judge hands the correct ballot to the voter; and the inspector makes sure the machines get back and forth from the precincts,” Sontag said. “The inspector is also responsible to make sure the ballots get back to the board the evening of the election.”

Sontag works at the Armory Building where Precincts 4, 5 and 7 vote. Hundreds of people vote at this location, Sontag said.

For those wanting to vote absentee, voters must fill out an application every year. There is a question on the application that asks if the application is for just a certain election or for all the ballots for the election year the voter is eligible for, Rozell said.

“They fill that out or drop it off to us and then we will mail the ballots — however they chose — to them,” Rozell said. “People are still registered to vote but the application to vote absentee has to be filled out every year.”

This is to facilitate the ballots not being sent out when they aren’t needed by voters. Registration can be completed online at okvoterportal.okelections.us, or picked up in person at the Cherokee County Election Board, or it can be mailed. Press releases are published in the TDP and on the election board Facebook page for voter registration and absentee application deadlines, Rozell said.

Absentee ballots come into the board encased in a packet with an outer envelope, an affidavit envelope inside that and then the ballot envelope. They are brought in sealed and IDs checked and verified that everything matches with the numbers on the envelopes. It is accepted and put in a locked box that the board opens for absentee processing.

To vote on actual election day March 5, voters must vote in their primary locations, not at the election board office. Results are live after 7 p.m. March 5, and on the state’s website at ok.gov/elections.

“At 7 p.m. we will run all of the early voting and then all of the absentee votes we have will be run and as the precincts come in they will updated,” Rozell said. “We are open until everything is in and counted.”

Proof of identity is required to register to vote and this includes state issued drivers license, passport, state, federal or tribal issued identification, or state university issued IDs — all with a photo. The voter registration card can also be used and it is the only one that does not require a photo. Private school IDs do not qualify, Rozell said.

People sometimes think they are registered when they are not.

“If a voter has not voted in two federal elections they will be taken off the rolls. If they move to another county we get notified by that county and we can remove them from ours. We get notification from the state health department on passings as well as our local funeral homes and we clean up our rolls that way,” Rozell said.

If a person does not have proper identification, a provisional ballot is issued to them if they choose to vote that way, Rozell said. The voter can bring in their identification later, Rozell said.

“But that comes back to my office and does not go into the machine on election day. It is researched and put before the board of whether or not it will be counted. We are not violating anyone’s civil rights by not allowing someone to vote, but whether or not it counts is a different story,” Rozell said.