We occasionally post unserious things to social media, because given the state of things right now it’s pretty hard not to. But when it comes to the facts, we’ll always take those seriously.

Lately, we’ve noticed a common claim popping up in social media posts and replies:

“Most of Oklahoma voted for this.”
“The majority of Oklahomans still voted for [Donald Trump]”

And, yes, the first rule of the internet is still don’t read the comments, but we figured it was time to have a definitive answer that can be easily dropped into any online exchange, and it has a handy URL that's easy to remember:

DidTheMajorityOfOklahomaVoteForDonaldTrump.com

But, since you're here and not there, let’s get into it.

Did the majority of Oklahomans vote for Trump?

The short answer is: NO

There's a lot to unpack when we try to answer a question like this, but if you know anything about elections, voter registration, or voter turnout, you probably understand that election results don't necessarily represent the opinions of the populations they affect. But let’s break this down with actual numbers and facts.

The 2024 Presidential Election in Oklahoma

Here’s what happened on Election Night according to the now certified vote totals for Oklahoma:

Donald Trump received 1,036,213 votes
Kamala Harris received 499,599 votes
30,361 votes went to Libertarian and independent candidates

That’s a total of 1,566,173 ballots cast for president in Oklahoma. Trump received a little over 66% of those votes, a majority of the votes cast. But

Did a majority of Oklahomans vote?

NO

As of July 1, 2024, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated Oklahoma’s total population at 4,095,393. The number of ballots cast in the for president in the November 2024 election don't even make it to half of that population.

But that fact can be misleading. Not everyone in Oklahoma can or chooses to vote, and instead of diving into all the reasons why just yet, let’s start with voter registration and turnout in the November 2024 general election.

Did a majority of registered Oklahoma voters vote for Donald Trump?

NO

The Oklahoma State Election Board updates voter registration numbers monthly. As of November 1, 2024, Oklahoma had 2,442,211 registered voters. [^1]

If we divide Trump’s vote total (1,036,213) by the number of registered voters (2,442,211), we see that he received a total number of votes equivalent to 42.4% of registered voters. Not a majority.

But did a majority of registered Oklahoma voters vote in the election?

Yes

While 64% of registered Oklahoma voters cast ballots in the 2024 election, that still means over 875,000 registered voters (36%) didn’t vote at all. That’s an increase from 31% in 2020.

Now obviously, or perhaps not to some, registered voters aren’t the entire population of Oklahoma, nor are they the entire population of eligible voters.

It would be our hope that this fact alone should settle the debate, but let’s go further and grab a few more numbers and explore how registration and turnout have shaped Oklahoma’s political landscape.

Were Republicans the majority of registered Oklahoma voters on Election Day?

Yes

According to the Oklahoma State Election Board’s official registration statistics, as of Election Day 2024, Republicans made up 52.3% of registered Oklahoma voters. Democrats followed with 27%, Independents at 19.7%, and Libertarians at just 1%.

Trump and the Republican Party certainly had a registration advantage, but as the results show, they also won votes from outside their party. However, this Republican registration majority is a relatively recent development in Oklahoma’s political history.

The Oklahoma State Election Board maintains historical statewide voter registration data going back to 1960, when centralized voter registration began. Back then, the political landscape was dramatically different:

There were 1,019,759 registered voters in the state.
And 82% were registered Democrats.

By 1964, when Oklahoma last voted for a Democratic president (Lyndon B. Johnson), 80% of the state’s registered voters were still Democrats. Nearly every year since, that percentage has steadily declined. (Note: Major County hasn’t gone blue since 1932, and Tulsa County since 1936–the first and second elections for Franklin D. Roosevelt)

The closest a Democrat has come to winning Oklahoma since then was Jimmy Carter in 1976, who lost the state with 48.8% of the vote against Gerald Ford’s 50.0%. Yet at the time, 76.3% of Oklahoma voters were still registered Democrats. Notably, voter participation in 1976 was quite high. Based on the total ballots cast for president, 95.7% of registered Oklahomans voted.

Since then, only twice has a Democratic presidential candidate received more than 40% of the Oklahoma vote:

In 1988, Michael Dukakis lost to George H.W. Bush, despite Democrats making up 66% of registered voters
In 1996, Bill Clinton lost to Bob Dole, though Democrats still accounted for 59% of registered voters.

In the 1988 election cycle, Oklahoma’s voter registration numbers reached an all-time high, surpassing more than 2 million registered voters, a record that stood until the 2000 presidential election. According to U.S. Census estimates, Oklahoma had 2,366,000 voting-age adults in 1988, meaning nearly 90% of the state’s voting-age population was registered. But despite such high registration, just 56% of registered voters actually voted.

A similar pattern emerged in 2000, when Oklahoma’s voter rolls once again exceeded 2 million registered voters. When the final ballots were counted, only 55% of registered voters cast a ballot.

Oklahoma’s Shrinking Democratic Party

Despite these setbacks, Democrats maintained a plurality of Oklahoma voter registrations for 48 consecutive years—from 1960 until 2008. That finally changed in the lead-up to the 2008 presidential election, when the percentage of registered Democrats dipped below 50% for the first time.

In the wake of Barack Obama’s historic victory, the Oklahoma Republican Party continued to gain ground and between 2008 and 2020, the state saw a steady shift in party registration:

In 2008, Republicans made up 35.5% of Oklahoma voters.
By the 2010 midterms, that number had risen to 40.5%.
By the 2012 presidential election, it reached 42.3%.

Days before the 2014 midterms, the gap between Democrats and Republicans had narrowed to fewer than 3,000 total registrations statewide, but by the end of 2014, the Oklahoma Republican Party had officially overtaken the Oklahoma Democratic Party in voter registration for the first time in state history.

After that, the trend only continued:

Ahead of the 2016 presidential election, Republicans accounted for 45.6% of registered voters.
By the 2018 midterms, their share grew to 47.3%.
Less than a week before the 2020 presidential election, in the final pre-election voter registration report, the State Election Board confirmed Republicans had official crossed the threshold with 50.009% of registered Oklahoma voters.

As of January 31, 2025, Oklahoma Democrats account for 613,214 registered voters (26.2%), the lowest recorded number for the party since centralized voter registration began in 1960.

Registration vs. Population

Of course, voter registration is only part of the equation. When people say things like “the majority of Oklahomans voted x, y or z way", they often fail to consider who that entire population could be, including those eligible to vote but were not registered.

It’s for this reason Dr. Michael McDonald of the University of Florida’s Election Lab developed the Voting-Eligible Population (VEP) metric, which adjusts for non-citizens and ineligible groups like felons to provide a more accurate picture of voter participation.

Looking at historical data from the UF Election Lab, Oklahoma’s eligible voter turnout has fluctuated over the years. While participation peaked in 2004, more recent elections have struggled to reach those levels:

2000 – 49.9%
2004 – 58.3%
2008 – 55.8%
2012 – 49.2%
2016 – 52.3%
2020 – 55.2%

That brings us to 2024, where we need to determine how many Oklahomans were actually eligible to vote. To calculate the Voting-Eligible Population (VEP) for 2024:

Oklahoma had approximately 3,131,836 voting-age adults (as estimated by the US Census Bureau)
We need to subtract 4.35% (136,235 people) for non-citizens
And then subtract 39,254 people who are ineligible to vote as felons.

This results in an estimated 2,956,347 voting-eligible Oklahomans in 2024. Let’s compare that to actual turnout.

Did a majority of voting-eligible Oklahomans cast a ballot in the 2024 presidential election?

Yes

If 1,566,173 total ballots were cast for president in 2024, then the turnout rate for Oklahoma’s voting-eligible population is 52.98%, meaning that just over half of eligible Oklahomans who could have voted actually did. However, like we saw with registered voters, this a decline from the 55.2% turnout rate in 2020.

Did a majority of voting-eligible Oklahomans vote for Donald Trump?

NO

If we divide Trump’s 1,036,213 votes by our voting-eligible population, we can see that in reality he only had the support of 35% of Oklahomans eligible to vote.

And, if 2,442,211 Oklahomans were registered to vote, the Voting-Eligible Population math also suggests there’s more than a half-million Oklahomans who could have registered to vote, but didn’t.

So, once and for all, did a majority of Oklahoma’s total population vote for Donald Trump?

ABSOLUTELY NOT

As of July 1, 2024, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated Oklahoma’s total population at 4,095,393.

If we consider every Oklahoman, voting-eligible or not, Trump was elected by roughly 25% of the state’s total population. That is nowhere near a majority.

So, to summarize:

42% of registered Oklahoma voters voted for Trump – Not a Majority
35% of voting eligibleOklahomans voted for Trump – Not a Majority
25% of the state population voted for Trump – ABSOLUTELY NOT a Majority

The only “majority” of Oklahomans who wanted Trump… were the people who voted for him. So when someone claims “most Oklahomans voted for Trump,” they’re twisting the truth.

Ultimately turnout is what matters the most, but no majority of Oklahomans who were either registered, eligible or ALIVE voted for him.

But wait! What about the voter purges I read about?

Every election cycle, headlines warn of “voter purges,” sparking fears of disenfranchisement. But what does voter roll maintenance actually involve, and how does it work in Oklahoma?

Voter registration records aren’t static—people move, pass away, or otherwise become ineligible to vote. To keep its rolls updated, Oklahoma has to follow voter list maintenance procedures outlined in the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA), also known as the “Motor Voter” law. This federal law requires states to update voter registration records while ensuring eligible voters aren’t unfairly removed.

Before the November elections, state officials announced in a press release that, since January 1, 2021, Oklahoma election officials have removed the following from voter rolls:

97,065 deceased voters
143,682 voters who moved out-of-state
5,607 felons
14,993 duplicate registrations
and 194,962 inactive voters (removed via the address verification process)

The first four categories are routine updates required under federal law and when performed correctly do notdisenfranchise eligible voters. However, Oklahoma goes beyond federal requirements in a few key ways:

Felony Disenfranchisement: Oklahoma is one of 48 states that revoke voting rights for felons while they’re incarcerated. However, as of January 1, 2025, voting rights are now automatically restored once a full sentence—including parole and probation—is completed, though individuals must re-register before casting a ballot.
Mental Incapacitation: Oklahoma is among the majority of states with a law that allows the disenfranchisement of individuals deemed mentally incapacitated by a court, but according to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), anyone with a mental disability who understands what it means to vote can vote in federal elections.
Non-Citizens Excused from Jury Duty: SB 377 (2023) required cancelling voter registrations for non-citizens excused from jury duty. Non-citizens were already barred from voting, and so SQ 834 (2024) which changed “all citizens” to “only citizens” in the state constitution, also changed nothing.

The Address Verification Process: The Biggest Source of Voter Disenfranchisement

Under state law, voters who don’t vote for four years receive a notice to confirm or update their registration. If they don’t respond and skip the next federal election, their registration is canceled.

Non-voting doesn’t mean ineligibility, and the notice includes instructions to stay registered without voting. It can be completed online or by mail (postage-free), but still adds a small burden that affects infrequent voters.

Who’s Affected the Most?

According to a September 2024 analysis by Oklahoma Voice, Oklahoma’s voter removals have generally tracked with overall party affiliation trends, but some groups have been disproportionately affected:

Democrats and independents were overrepresented among voters removed for inactivity.
- Democrats made up 34% of registrations deleted for inactivity, despite representing 27.5% of Oklahoma’s total registered voters.
- Independents accounted for 30% of inactive voter deletions, even though they make up only 19.5% of total voters.
Meanwhile, Republicans made up 35% of deleted inactive voters, lower than their 52% share of total registrations.
Most inactive voter deletions also came from Oklahoma, Tulsa, Cleveland, and Canadian counties, the four largest counties in the state.

Oklahoma’s voter turnout rates have been among the lowest in the country, with the state ranking 50th in voter turnout for November elections. Critics argue that policies like closed primaries and the address verification rule discourage voter participation.

Campaigns to open Oklahoma’s primaries or introduce automatic voter registration could help engage more voters, especially those who feel their vote doesn’t matter in the state’s heavily Republican-leaning elections.

Check Your Registration and Stay Active

Regardless of your party, Oklahoma voters should take extra steps to ensure they remain on the rolls.

✅ Check your voter registration status regularly

✅ Update your address promptly you move

✅ Vote at least once every four years

You can check your voter registration status at oklahoma.gov/elections. 🔵

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[1]: Voter Registration Applications have to be received at least 25 days prior to an election in order to participate in that election, so some of these voters may not have been eligible