Legislation that would shift Oklahoma’s school-board elections to better-known election dates that draw higher turnout has cleared two House committees and is now eligible to be heard by the entire membership of the Oklahoma House of Representatives.

Senate Bill 6, by state Sen. Ally Seifried and state Rep. Chris Banning, would move school-board elections to August for primaries or November for runoffs.

“I believe, without a doubt, it will increase voter turnout,” said Banning, R-Bixby. “Right now, with the state average of 6-percent (turnout), some of our schools coming in at 1 percent, I can’t see it getting much worse.”

Oklahoma is currently one of only 12 states mandating that school-board elections be conducted off-cycle on low-turnout dates for which there is little voter awareness.

Currently, school-board primary elections are held the second Tuesday in February every year, unless there is a presidential election, while school-board general elections are conducted the first Tuesday of every April.

There are approximately 2,500 school-board members elected across Oklahoma. Because of the obscure dates those elections are held, turnout is almost nonexistent in most cases.

Research done by Americans for Prosperity‒Oklahoma found that turnout for the April 2, 2024, school-board elections in Oklahoma averaged 6 percent of voters. Only one school district in Oklahoma had voter turnout exceed 25 percent that day, and some districts reported less than 1 percent turnout.

In comparison, 64 percent of eligible Oklahoma voters participated in the November 2024 general election.

Research published by the Annenberg Institute at Brown University in January 2020 reviewed data from four states, including Oklahoma. Among other things, researchers found that “the majority of voters in a typical school board election in each of the four states we examine is ‘unlikely’ to have children.”

Opponents did not deny that school-board elections will likely see increased turnout if SB 6 becomes law and those races are moved to higher-visibility election dates. Instead, opponents argued against the bill because of the higher turnout the election shift could generate.

State Rep. Andy Fugate, D-Oklahoma City, said higher turnout will mean increased election costs for school districts.

“Especially for the November election, they’re going to be having to provide significantly more ballots than they would otherwise,” Fugate said.

He argued that school-board elections should be shifted to Saturdays if lawmakers want to increase turnout.

But state Rep. Neil Hays, R-Checotah, noted that moving school-board elections to November means voters can cast their ballots on a Saturday during early voting.

State Rep. Jim Olsen, R-Roland, urged lawmakers to support the legislation.

“Generally speaking, if we can get a higher turnout, that is normally a good thing,” Olsen said. “But when we come to school-board elections, it seems there is less interest in that.”

He noted that turnout has increased substantially in other states that shifted school-board elections to better-known election dates.

SB 6 previously passed out of the Oklahoma Senate on a 33-10 vote. It passed out of the House Elections and Ethics Committee on April 7. The bill passed out of the House Government Oversight Committee on an 11-6 vote on April 15. The bill is now eligible to be considered by the full membership of the Oklahoma House of Representatives.