Today's Election Day
If you aren’t one of the 75 million Americans who voted early, I hope you’ve got a plan to vote today and to bring someone with you to the polls. Our neighborhood polling place, home to two precincts, had a full parking lot at 7:20 am and long lines. It took about an hour and a half to vote, but things should be more manageable at midday. If you can help it, don’t wait until after work, but per the Oklahoma State Election Board, “All eligible voters in line by 7 p.m. will be permitted to vote.”
Election Day used to be more exciting:
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="
title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
As a reminder that there are more enduringly important matters, I’ve reposted (with permission) an excellent, brief summation from the Monergism Facebook page of what the Bible teaches about being “saved.” Saved from what? Saved by whom and by what means? Saved for what? (Monergism.com is an excellent online theology resource.)
A housekeeping item: I did at long last click the “accept payments” switch on the Substack dashboard. Thank you to those who expressed an interest in supporting BatesLine via Substack — now you can! At the moment, I don’t have any special benefits planned for subscribers, but I’m giving that some thought and am open to suggestions.
For your convenience, here’s my list of election recommendations; links will take you to the gory details:
Mayor: Karen Keith (D)
Council District 2: Stephanie Reisdorph (R)
Council District 7: Eddie Huff (R)
Council District 9: Jayme Fowler (R)
City of Tulsa elections are officially non-partisan, and marking a straight-party vote doesn't cover these races. Party affiliations do not appear on the ballot; above are the voter registrations of the candidates. Conservatives have a Hobson's choice in the Mayor's race between two liberal Democrats; above is what I believe to be the least bad choice. We need southeast Tulsa voters to elect Eddie Huff, to defeat the left-wing incumbent, in order to have even the beginnings of a conservative voice at City Hall.
Statewide:
Corporation Commissioner: Chad Williams (L)
SQ 833 (Public Improvement Districts): NO
SQ 834 (Only citizens are qualified electors): YES
1st Congressional District: Kevin Hern (R)
2nd Congressional District: Josh Brecheen (R)
4th Congressional District: Tom Cole (R)
5th Congressional District: Stephanie Bice (R)
State Senate 3: Julie McIntosh (R)
State Senate 7: Warren Hamilton (R)
State Senate 15: Lisa Standridge (R)
State Senate 21: Randy Grellner (R)
State Senate 25: Brian Guthrie (R)
State Senate 33: Christie Gillespie (R)
State Senate 35: Dean Martin (R)
State Senate 37: Aaron Reinhardt (R)
State Senate 39: Dave Rader (R)
State Senate 43: Kendall Sacchieri (R)
State Senate 46: Charles Barton (R)
State Senate 47: Kelly E. Hines (R)
State House 1: Victoria Lawhorn (L)
State House 12: Mark Chapman (R)
State House 20: Jonathan Wilk (R)
State House 34: Andrew Muchmore (R)
State House 39: Richard Prawdzienski (L)
State House 41: Denise Crosswhite Hader (R)
State House 43: Jay Steagall (R)
State House 45: Matt Watson (R)
State House 46: Alex Torvi (R)
State House 64: Rande Worthen (R)
State House 66: Clay Staires (R)
State House 70: Brad Banks (R)
State House 79: Paul Hassink (R)
State House 83: Eric Roberts (R)
State House 86: David Hardin (R)
State House 87: Dave Schnittger (R)
State House 88: Bobby McCollum (I)
State House 90: Emily Gise (R)
State House 94: Suzanne Jobe (R)
State House 95: Max Wolfley (R)
State House 98: Gabe Woolley (R)
State House 100: Marilyn Stark (R)
No endorsement in House 4, 16, 26, 37, 38, 62, 63, 74, 84, 85, where a GOP incumbent has failing grades from the Oklahoma Constitution newspaper and/or OCPA, and yet the alternative is unappealing.
Tulsa County Clerk: Michael Willis (R)
Tulsa County Commissioner District 2: Lonnie Sims (R)
In parentheses are party of voter registration, age, and appointing governor. Nigh and Henry are Democrats, Keating, Fallin, and Stitt are Republicans. An asterisk* indicates that other conservative voices disagree with my conclusion on that judge.
Supreme Court retention:
Noma Gurich (R, 72, Henry): NO
Yvonne Kauger (I, 87, Nigh): NO
James Edmondson (D, 79, Henry): NO
Court of Criminal Appeals retention:
William J. Musseman (R, 52, Stitt): YES
Scott Rowland (R, 60, Fallin): YES*
David B. Lewis (R, 66, Henry): NO
Court of Civil Appeals retention:
James R. Huber (R, 56, Stitt): YES
Timothy J. Downing (R, 45, Stitt): YES
Thomas E. Prince (R, 67, Stitt): YES
Robert D. Bell (R, 57, Henry): YES*
E. Bay Mitchell III (R, 70, Keating): YES
Brian Jack Goree (R, 60, Fallin): YES*