Two seek County Commission post

About 50,000 registered voters will have the opportunity next Tuesday to choose a new commissioner for Cleveland County’s District 1 seat.

The position became vacant following the death this spring of long-serving commissioner, Bill Graves. Graves died in April from complications following surgery.

On July 10, voters will chose between Newalla Democrat James Earp and Norman Republican Rod Cleveland.

Polls will be open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday. Absentee-in-person balloting will take place beginning Friday and again Monday. Those absentee ballots, Cleveland County Election Board Secretary Paula Roberts said, must be cast at the county election board office, 122 S. Peters Ave., in Norman. Roberts said the office will be open 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

“In person absentee voters fill out an application form when they arrive at the office,” Roberts said. “They are not required to state a reason for voting in-person absentee.”

However, Roberts said voters are required to swear they have not voted a “regular mail absentee ballot” and they will not vote and their polling place on election day.

County election board records show close to 50,000 registered voters in District 1; of that figure, 27,371 are Republicans, 17,740 Democrats and 5,470 registered as Independent.

And while the district is considered “heavily Republican” neither candidate is taking the race for granted.

GOP candidate Rod Cleveland, 40, said he has spent a majority of his campaign “walking, listening and taking notes.”

Cleveland defeated three other Republicans in a four-way primary in June.

“I had a message,” he said in early June. “I told the voters what I wanted to see Cleveland County be and become, and I think they received that message and rewarded me with the votes.”

In a glossy, four-color campaign handout Cleveland describes himself as “a Ronald Reagan conservative (who) has been a Republican precinct chairman for the past 12 years” and who has “helped elect conservatives for many years.”

James Earp is taking a different approach.

While Earp, 49, said he, too, would be campaigning “eyeball to eyeball” he described his first venture into area politics as a “low key” thing.

“I think you can better understand people face-to-face,” he said in an ealier story. “I want them to vote for me because they think I’m the right person for the job; not just because of name recognition. That’s why I’m walking door to door.”

Yet even with such controversial issues such as the location of a new county jail and the budget for county roads, Roberts remains concerned by the possibility of low voter turnout.

“Low turnout is always a concern,” she said. “We always want the voters to surprise us and turn out in large numbers.”
Come Tuesday evening, both the candidates and election board officials will know just how large those numbers will be.