Voters May Want 'Cheat Sheet' Before Heading to Polls

Ed Murray, News 9

OKLAHOMA CITY -- If you haven't studied the ballot, you might want to do a little homework for Election Day. Election officials said voters who haven't planned ahead or who planned to make up their minds at the polling place could take 30 minutes or longer to cast their ballots.

Voters will have to answer nearly a dozen state questions and choose a lot of elected officials on November 2. State Election Board Secretary Paul Ziriax said voters should bring a cheat sheet with them. As long people don't share their information before, during or after voting while still at the polling place, bringing notes to the ballot box is legal.

"In fact, it would be perfectly fine for a voter to make notes about how they plan to vote on the state questions," Ziriax said. "For example, take that into the polling place with them. As long as they're not sharing that with other voters or telling other voters how they plan to vote, that's perfectly legal and would actually speed up the process of voting while at the precinct."

If voters wanted to avoid Election Day altogether, they could go to their county election board. The deadline to apply for an absentee ballot is Wednesday at 5 p.m. Those votes must be received back through the mail by election night at 7 p.m. Early voting will also be offered on Friday, Saturday and Monday. Early voters need to be sure they go to the right place.

"You have to go to the county where you're registered," said Oklahoma County Election Board Secretary Doug Sanderson. "So don't come to the Oklahoma County if you just work in Oklahoma City. If you live in Cleveland County or Logan County or whatever, you have to go to those election board offices."

Oklahoma County has mailed out more than 10,000 absentee ballots. As of Monday morning, more than 3,700 have been returned.