Decision day nears for voters

For the first time in recent memory, the national Democratic Party has paid attention to Oklahoma due to a wide-open Presidential Primary Election.

Multiple presidential candidates have visited Oklahoma and North Texas during the last two weeks ahead of Super Tuesday.

Oklahoma voters will be able to cast their first ballots in this year’s election on Tuesday, March 3.

It is also known as Super Tuesday since 12 other states (Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Vermont) and one territory, American Samoa, will be voting. All told 1,357 of the 3,979 pledged delegates to be awarded to the candidates in the Democratic primaries will be allotted on Super Tuesday.

Recent candidates to visit the either Oklahoma or North Texas were Senator Bernie Sanders (D-Vermont), Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota) and former New York City mayor Mike Bloomberg.

A fourth candidate, Pete Buttigieg, is set to hold a get out the vote rally on Monday, March 2 in Oklahoma City, his campaign announced.

Sanders held a rally at the Mesquite, Texas arena Feb. 14 with more than 5,000 of his supporters.

The self-avowed Democratic Socialist pulled no punches once he took the stage just before 8:40 p.m. Sanders’ style was evident with his opening remarks.

“You know, I was thinking, I have never been to a rodeo in my life, but I do work in Washington, D.C., and I do hear a lot of [redacted] from there,” Sanders said as the crowd cheered. “So, [redacted] is not anything that I am unfamiliar with.”

Sanders, who finished in a tight second-place in the Iowa Caucuses on Feb. 3 before winning both the New Hampshire Primary on Feb. 11 and Nevada Caucuses on Feb. 22 has become an early front runner.

Sanders’ finishes in the 2020 contests thus far have matched then-candidate Donald Trumps’ results during the 2016 Republican Presidential Primary. Meanwhile, President Trump faces minimal opposition in this year’s Republican Primaries.

Sanders, who is known for his Medicare For All proposal also called for an increase of the Federal Minimum Wage from $7.25 per hour to $15.00 per hour. He said the current minimum wage of $7.25 is a starvation wage.

About fifteen minutes into his speech, Sanders noticed an audience member that needed medical attention. He immediately stopped the speech and even offered the audience member his own water.

“Okay she’s ok,” Sanders said in his signature Brooklyn accent before launching back into the rest of his speech.

Meanwhile, Bloomberg has made two recent stops to Oklahoma; Jan. 19 in Tulsa and Feb. 8 in Oklahoma City.

Bloomberg has chosen a non-traditional route to the Democratic nomination by skipping the first four contests, which end on Feb. 28 with the South Carolina Primary.

Instead, the former New York City mayor has focused his efforts on states voting on Super Tuesday and beyond. Bloomberg, whose personal wealth is estimated at $61.5 billion according to the 2019 Forbes 400, has spent $509,512,884 on campaign ads as of Feb. 24.

On a call with media outlets across Oklahoma, Arkansas and Tennessee, Bloomberg’s 2020 States Director Dan Kanninen said the campaign is building a national campaign.

“This includes more than 2,400 staff including more than 2,100 staff in 43 states. Most around Super Tuesday. They are states that are crucial to the nomination.”

Kanninen added that it would be a fatal error nominating Senator Sanders.

“Democrats have to nominate somebody who can beat Trump.”

Sarah Baker, Bloomberg’s Oklahoma state director, said the campaign has opened three offices in Oklahoma with one each in Lawton, Oklahoma City and Tulsa.

“We have a team of 23 staff members,” she said. “They are all from Oklahoma. We don’t have any transplants.”

Baker also referenced a poll conducted by from Feb. 10 to Feb. 13 by Cole Hargrave Snodgrass & Associates of 172 likely voters showing Bloomberg in the lead for the Oklahoma Democratic Primary. Sanders finished second in that poll at 14 percent.

Klobuchar visited Oklahoma City on Feb. 23. The senior senator from Minnesota held a rally for a few hundred supporters at the Will Rogers Theatre. Klobuchar is considered somewhat of an underdog candidate who recently finished third in New Hampshire and pushing to get into the top-tier of Democratic candidates.

Klobuchar said she wants Democrats to win big in November. Her emphasis was on winning swing districts such as the Oklahoma Fifth Congressional District, which was won by Democrat Kendra Horn in 2018. She also pointed to recent Democratic victories in Republican-leaning states.

“When I look at what we’ve done recently, and you think Oklahoma can’t be a place where we play, look at this — we got re-elected in the state of Louisiana a Democratic governor,” Klobuchar said. “In Kentucky, we just elected a Democratic governor, so Mitch McConnell has a Democratic governor.”

Klobuchar also said she has focused on rural issues during her time in the U.S. Senate.

Although he has not yet visited Oklahoma, a spokesman from Buttigieg’s campaign did respond to some questions submitted by The Madill Record. Specifically, they answered the question, “How will your policies help rural counties?”

Euguene Chow, a spokesman for the campaign, highlighted sections of the campaign’s rural economic plan as follows:

“Expand and connect Regional Innovation Clusters. In order to revitalize America’s rural economy and catalyze job creation, Pete will provide up to $500 million in federal funds to develop and support a national network of 1,000 clusters. By bringing together training, technology, and talent, these regional innovation clusters will support the growth of rural businesses and jobs and launch a new generation of rural entrepreneurs. This initiative will be complemented by efforts to:

“Provide support for local economic planning. Pete will grant $200 million in federal funds to support state and local governments’ regional development strategies.

“Support the Rural Jobs and Innovation Accelerator Challenge. To spark business innovation and job growth, Pete will support the Rural Innovation Challenge, which will match one dollar in federal grant funding for each dollar of state or private investment (up to $100,000 per opportunity) in the 1,000 most innovative rural businesses.

Expand Boots to Business. To support returning veterans who aspire to start a business, Pete will transform the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Boots to Business entrepreneurship education program from two days to two weeks. Veterans who successfully complete this program and have an accepted business plan will receive a $10,000 grant to start their business.”

Marshall County Info

Voters will go to the polls Tuesday for the March 3 Presidential Preferential Primary Election, Marshall County Election Board Secretary LaRue Wilhite said today.

Please keep the following information and tips in mind as the election approaches.

- Early voting will be available at the County Commissioner’s Conference Room, first floor, County Courthouse on Thursday, February 27, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Friday, February 28, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Early voting is also available Saturday, February 29, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

- Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday. Lines are possible at peak voting times. Wait times will likely be shortest at mid-morning and mid-afternoon. Anyone in line to vote at 7 p.m. will be allowed to cast a ballot.

General Voting Info

According to the Oklahoma Election Board, In-person absentee voting begins Thursday, February 27. Early voting will be available at all 77 county election boards including additional sites in several counties. In Oklahoma, early voting will be available from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday, February 27 and Friday, February 28 and from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, February 29.

Election Board Paul Ziriax State Election Board reminds voters that Oklahoma has closed primaries. In order to vote in a party’s primary election, you must be a registered voter of that party. The Democratic Party, however, has chosen to open its primaries to Independent voters. If you are an Independent voter and would like to vote in the Democratic primary, be sure to ask your poll worker for a Presidential Primary ballot.

Both the Republicans and Democrats will have a primary election on March 3. No Libertarian candidates filed; therefore, there will not be a Libertarian primary.