By Fox23.com News Staff
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. — Primaries and runoff elections will remain closed to Independent voters for the 2026-2027 election years, according to the State Election Board.
The State Election Board Secretary announced today that no political party has filed notice to allow Independents to vote in their primaries and runoffs for the 2026-2027 election years.
The recognized parties for the state are Democratic, Republican, and Libertarian.
Oklahoma is classified as a modified closed primary state. To participate in a party’s prmary or runoff primary, voters must register for said partty. However there was an exception in every odd-numbered year between November 1 and November 30 which allowed all reconized political parties in the state to open primaries and runoffs to Independents during the next two election years by notifying the the Secretary of State Election Board. If no notice is given, party primaires remain closed under state law.
If a party had chosen to open its primaries, the deadline would have been extended to December 15 to allow other parties to respond or change their responses.
Voters would would like to change their party affiliation is instructed to do so before April 1, 2026. State law prohibits party affiliation changes April 1 through August 31 of even-number years. Party affiliation changes submitted during the closed period will be processed on September 1, 2026.
