Super Tuesday primary will let Oklahomans help select presidential candidates

The polls will open at 7 a.m. Tuesday for registered Oklahoma voters who are participating in the Super Tuesday Primary that will help designate the Democratic, Republican and Libertarian candidates for president.

Officially designated as the Presidential Preferential Primary, ballots will be available to voters to let them make their selection for their party’s candidate, in the months before those political parties meet in national conventions to officially nominate the candidates they want listed on the Nov. 5 general election ballot.

Oklahoma is presenting six candidates to Democrats, eight to Republicans and two to Libertarians. That ballots include candidates who still are in the race, as well as those who have ended or suspended their presidential campaigns.

On the Republican ballot, candidates are: Asa Hutchinson, Vivek Ramaswamy, Ron DeSantis, Ryan L. Binkley, David Stuckenberg, Donald J. Trump, Nikki Haley and Chris Christie. Ramaswamy, DeSantis, Christie and Hutchinson all dropped out of the race in January, while Binkley ended his campaign in February.

Listed on the Democratic ballot are: Joseph R. Biden Jr., Marianne Williamson, Cenk Uygur, Stephen Lyons, Armando Mando Perez-Serrato and Dean Phillips. Williamson suspended her campaign in early February.

Candidates on the Libertarian ballot are Chase Oliver and Jacob Hornberger. Both are still in the race.

The Oklahoma Democratic Party said in December that it would allow Independents to vote in its primaries and runoff primaries during the 2024-2025 elections. But, the Oklahoma Republican Party notified the State Election Board it would keep its primaries closed to Independent voters. And, because the Libertarian Party did not notify the election board about its preference, that party’s primaries also will remain closed, State Election Board Secretary Paul Ziriax said. Under state law, Independent voters must request a Democratic primary ballot if they want to vote in that election.

Oklahoma is joining 14 other states in participating in what is dubbed Super Tuesday because of the number of states holding presidential primary elections on the same day. Election experts said Super Tuesday is important because it allows about one-third of all delegates to the presidential nominating conventions to be won, while giving analysts a pretty good idea who will win their party’s nominations (which already is predicted to be President Joe Biden for Democrats and former President Donald Trump for Republicans). Candidates traditionally use the results to evaluate their level of support and decide if they want to remain in the race.

Others holding presidential primary elections on Tuesday are Texas, Alabama, Alaska (GOP), Arkansas, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont and Virginia, along with American Samoa. In Iowa, mail-in ballots for Democrats are due March 5.

Parties will formally nominate their presidential candidates at national conventions, set July 15-18 for Republicans, Aug. 19-22 for Democrats and May 24-26 for Libertarians. Those candidates will be featured on the Nov. 5 general election ballot that will let the nation’s voters select the president, as well as decide other federal, state and local races.