Problems Reported At Some Tulsa County Polling Places

Tuesday, June 26th 2018, 9:17 am

By: News On 6

People voted out of the back of a precinct workers' vehicles because the doors were still locked at Will Rogers United Methodist Church at 11th and Yale early Tuesday morning.

Polls were supposed to open at 7 a.m. but because the doors were still locked, Tulsa County Election Board workers improvised.

CHECK THIS OUT: Voters are casting their ballots in the back of vehicles! Poll worker tells me they’re still waiting on folks here at Will Rogers Church to open the doors. @NewsOn6 pic.twitter.com/1TAGPsnpSy — Joseph Holloway (@a_cupof_JOE) June 26, 2018

The Tulsa County Election Board says three other polling locations opened an hour late Tuesday. The three locations are at Kerr Elementary School and Jackson Elementary School -- both in Tulsa -- and Keystone Elementary School in Sand Springs.

Election officials say a Tulsa Public Schools employee was not there to unlock Kerr and Jackson Elementary schools in time for voting to begin as scheduled at 7 a.m. Tulsa Public Schools says its police department dispatched officers to unlock the two schools.

A Sand Springs school employee was late in opening up Keystone Elementary School.

The precinct inspector says he called the Tulsa County Election Board, who told him polls must open at 7 a.m. and to find a way to get set up. So they set up stations in the rear of a Ford Expedition, Ford Edge and a Toyota Tundra.

Because of that, the polling place technically opened on time and most voters say the process went smoothly.

"We're rolling with the flow. We're voting anyway. We're making it work and making due and doing our civic duty, whether it's working like it's supposed to or not," said voter Christie Gibbs.

The precinct inspector says they followed the same protocol outside as they normally do inside. The church opened its doors at exactly 9 a.m.

One precinct received the wrong ballots. The Tulsa County Election Board says the wrong ballots arrived at precinct #92, St. Peter's Episcopal Church on East 21st Street. The Board says the print shop put the wrong ballots in that precinct’s container so workers switched them out with the correct ones and the polling place opened.