Barriers persist for Native voters in Oklahoma

Oklahoma has one of the lowest voter turnouts in the country. However, advocates are working hard to get more Native American voters in the state to the polls. 

Story Snapshot 📷 Oklahoma had the second-lowest voter turnout in the nation for the 2024 General Election, with only 53.28% of eligible voters casting ballots. Despite having one of the largest Native American populations in the country, strict voting laws, historical suppression, and everyday survival challenges continue to create barriers for Indigenous voters. Advocacy groups like Rock the Native Vote and United Indian Nations of Oklahoma are working to increase registration and participation ahead of the 2026 gubernatorial election. 

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(OKLAHOMA) The state of Oklahoma had the second to lowest voter turnout rate for the 2024 General Election. 

According to the University of Florida Election Lab, in the 2024 Presidential Election, Oklahoma finished just ahead of Hawaii with 53.28% of the state’s eligible voting population heading to the polls. 

In 2020, Oklahoma had the lowest voter turnout in the nation for the general election. That year, 54.43% of eligible voters cast a ballot. 

2016 General Election voter turnout data also shows Oklahoma among the bottom of states. In 2016, Oklahoma was ahead of just Teneesee, West Virginia, and Hawaii. 

Oklahoma has the second highest Native American population in the country but Ginny Underwood, the Executive Director for Rock The Native Vote, a non-profit dedicated to getting Indigenous people out to vote, says strict voting laws create barriers.  

“Right now Oklahoma has the absentee ballots where you don't have to have a reason to submit an absentee ballot but you do have to have it notarized and so that's a barrier where people may not have access to get something notarized,” said Underwood. 

According to the Oklahoma State Election Board, all Standard Absentee Ballots have to be notarized whether the ballots are delivered to the clerk's office or mailed in. That means voters utilizing absentee ballots must go to a bank, credit union, library, or a notary’s office to have their identity verified and obtain the notary signature. 

The Oklahoma State Election Board told VNN Oklahoma they received 107,877 absentee ballots for the November 5th, 2024 General Election. 

Opponents of absentee ballots or mail-in ballots typically cite fraud concerns. However, the Brookings Institution says these concerns are unfounded. The nonpartisan nonprofit research organization states, “There is no evidence that mail ballots increase electoral fraud. Several anti-fraud protections are built into the process. Those who abuse ballots can be charged with election fraud and face fines or prison time.”

Also, according to the Brookings Institution, almost 25% of votes in the 2016 election were sent by mail. 

Oklahoma voters had access to early in person voting for days prior to the 2024 General Election. About 300,000 people voted early in person. 

Underwood says the State of Oklahoma periodically purges the state’s voter rolls every so often, removing people who have not voted in a recent election. According to Governor Kevin Stitt’s office, almost half a million voters were purged from Oklahoma’s voter registration rolls between 2021 and September of 2024.

History also plays a role in lower voter turnout amongst Native voters. 

“Native American voters feeling not just like their votes matter or that they'll be heard because of historic trauma within the state over generations,” said Underwood. 

Brian Hosmer, the Head of the History Department at Oklahoma State University echoes Underwoods sentiments that history has played a role in lower voter turnout amongst Native American voters. 

Hosmer spoke about the history of voter suppression during VNN’s Intertribal Symposium in July of 2024. 

Speaking on a panel during the symposium, Hosmer discussed the ways states worked to prevent Native Americans from voting even after the Indian Citizenship Act was signed into law in June of 1924. 

“One of the ways that several states in fact the most popular way to prevent Indian people from exercising their franchise was through the stipulation that’s in the Constitution and it says Indians not taxed,” said Hosmer. 

According to the National Constitution Center, an 1884 Supreme Court decision ruled that Native Americans could not vote because they didn’t pay taxes to the federal government. 

“So this was a clever, you might say nefarious way of turning sovereignty against Indigenous people so the argument was, ‘well you can’t vote in these elections because your Guardianship or the Trust status falls under this Indians Not Taxed thing so they used that particularly in Arizona, Utah, New Mexico.”

Hosmer also said that some states tried to keep Native voters from participating in state and local elections. 

“Since you’re under federal guardianship you can vote for President and vote for the United States senate but when it comes down to the state legislature and the governor the answer is no and so there are all kinds of barriers,” said Hosmer. 

Additionally, Underwood says a lot of Native voters they encounter are so focused on trying to make ends meet and meet their day to day responsibilities that voting is a lower priority. 

“Just trying to survive day to day and you layer that with their first and foremost things are just making sure that their families are fed, that they've got a roof over their head, those basic necessities,” said Underwood. “And then layering on whatever priorities they have voting is way down at the bottom of the list.”  

Despite the obstacles to voting, Underwood says Rock The Native Vote is already beginning its grassroots campaign to get Indigenous people to vote in Oklahoma’s 2026 Gubernatorial election. 

“There's a lot at stake in terms of the governor's relationship with our tribes and so making sure that there's a representative that understands the value tribes bring to the State of Oklahoma,” said Underwood. 

Oklahoma’s Tribes have had a tense relationship with Governor Kevin Stitt over the last few years. Most recently, Stitt was critical of tribes, specifically the Muscogee (Creek) Nation when a bill that would have forced drivers with tribal vehicle tags to pay turnpike tolls failed in the Oklahoma House of Representatives. 

Recent concerns about the future of voting within the state of Oklahoma and the U.S. have emerged since the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Save Act, something that concerns Margo Gray, the Executive Director for United Indian Nations of Oklahoma (UINO). 

“If the SAVE Act was to pass, it would change the whole landscape of how Indian Country votes," said Gray. 

SAVE stands for “Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act”. If passed by the Senate and signed by President Donald Trump, Americans would have to provide proof of citizenship to be able to register to vote. That would include documentation like a birth certificate or valid passport. 

“It's creating more barriers instead of increasing accessibility to voting in elections,” siad Gray. 

Additionally, UINO also works to register people to vote through registration drives, which Gray says they would not be able to do if the SAVE Act passed. 

Gray says these drives are critical to reaching the 200,000 eligible Native American voters in the State of Oklahoma. 

"During the last registration drive that United Indian Nations did, we found that there were people in their 50's and 60's who never registered to vote,” said Gray. “No one took the time to walk them through that and we were able to walk them through that.” 

Gray also emphasized the importance of making your voice heard. 

“It matters who gets in office and if you don't have your voice in your own state government, we also see how those impacts are on national elections, as well,” said Gray. 

In addition to state and federal elections, tribes have their own elections and work on getting their citizens registered to vote. 

VNN Oklahoma reached out to the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, Osage Nation and Cherokee Nation regarding their voting data. 

Data from April 2025 shows that Muscogee Nation had 17,993 of their 102,015 Muscogee citizens registered to vote. 

Data from January 2025 shows that the Cherokee Nation had 79,134 of their 466,000+ Cherokee Citizens registered to vote. 42,145 of those voters live within a district of the Cherokee Reservation while 36,989 are Cherokee Citizens who live outside the Cherokee Reservation boundaries. 

According to Osage News, during the most recent tribal election, 18,774 out of the tribe’s 25,902 citizens were registered to vote. 2,030 actually voted.

For now, UINO will continue its efforts to get as many Native Americans to vote as possible, wherever possible. 

"Of the 200,000 voters, if we got all of the Native American voters in the State of Oklahoma to be registered to vote, that's a game changer,” said Gray.