Oklahoma Primary Elections - Making a Difference LOCALLY
Oklahoma Primary Elections - Making a Difference LOCALLY
Who will you vote for in the Oklahoma Cleveland County Primary Elections?
In a previous post, I talked about the Oklahoma Primaries and detailed three state/national offices and their candidates. In this post, I continue with the County Offices and Candidates so you can research who is the best candidate for the job.
Cleveland County Primary Ballot
If you are registered Republican, and live in Cleveland County Oklahoma, in Senate District 15 (shown in green - the only district in Cleveland County electing a Senator this primary), the following offices and candidates is what you will be voting on in a few weeks in the REPUBLICAN PRIMARY.
You can find your specific sample ballot here. You have to know your precinct number. Your precinct number is on your voter identification card or you can look it up at the Oklahoma Voter Portal.
Do you know what these offices are, what they control and who is running for them?
Cleveland County Offices
While the campaign finances and ethics reports are easy to find online for state and federal races, the county races must be requested directly through the Cleveland County Election Board either by phone (405-928-7472) or in person. They will send you an email with scanned copies or you can get paper copies in person.
I have included the first page summary of the most recent information available at the time of this post.
County Clerk
The County Clerk serves as records keeper for the County. All documents relating to real estate (deeds, mortgages, mineral interests, plats, liens, judgments, as well as state and Federal tax liens and military discharge records) are received, recorded, and preserved in perpetuity. The County Clerk is also the secretary for several boards including Budget Board, Excise/Equalization Board, Board of the Commissioners and Tax Roll Correction Board. In addition, the County Clerk is responsible for payroll, inventory, accounts payable, preparing the monthly and annual financial reports and processing all purchase orders for the county. All records are open to the public under the State’s Open Records Act.
The person who takes this job MUST ensure tax dollars are spent appropriately and that each county office is following sound financial practices.
Pam Howlett has worked at the County Clerk’s office for 16 years. Currently she is the purchasing coordinator in the Clerk’s office. Prior to working in the Clerk’s office, she was an abstractor. She has lived in Cleveland County since 1994.
Miranda Alamillo is an accountant who has also worked for County Clerk’s office for a long time. She has a Facebook page.
County Sheriff
Julie Tipton is a CLEET-certified law enforcement professional with more than 13 years of service in the Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office. She has a Facebook page. She has served as Chief of Detention, managing more than 125 employees.
Neither of her pages detail why she wants to run for the Sheriff’s position against the incumbent, Chris Amason.
I show her 4th quarter 2023 Campaign Finance report, because most of her donations and expenditures occurred last year. She hired a campaign manager. In 1st quarter 2024, she received only an additional $100 in donations and spent $13.60.
Chris Amason (website seems to open in Chrome only) is the current Cleveland County Sheriff, elected in November of 2020. He lives in Moore. He started his law enforcement career in 1992 in Warr Acres and retired from the Norman Police Department as a Commander of the Criminal Investigations Division. He has a Facebook page. I used this 4th quarter report from 2023 because the 2024 reports don’t show many contributions.
Tim Deal is a former Oklahoma Highway Patrolman. There is very little information about him on his website besides saying he has managed multi-million dollar projects including restaurants, hotels and medical facilities. He also has a Facebook page.
Tim Deal did not file a 2024 campaign contributions report.
County Court Clerk
The District County Court Clerk is entrusted with the duty of recording and preserving all state records of the District Courts of Clevelands County’s judicial district. The Court Clerk records, files and maintains permanent reocrds of the proceedings of the District Court.
Two of the three candidates came to the Sunday, June 9th PIKE OFF OTA 3rd Annual Family Fun Fest at Royal Bavaria to meet everyone and eat good food. Cyndi Arthur and Deborah Cardwell were there.
Cyndi Arthur has over thirty years of experience in the legal profession in Oklahoma and Cleveland County (paralegal). She has never worked in a Court Clerk’s office. Her website gives specific reasons why she is running - to service the public as well as the court fairly and compassionately. She believes in having well-trained staff, with the ability for cross-training, to improve retention and eliminate high turnover. Seems like there are some significant issues with the current leadership of the Court Clerk. She has a Facebook page.
The following receipt was the only paperwork available at the Cleveland County Election Board.
Debora Cardwell served as the Cleveland County Deputy Court Clerk for six years but left that post sometime in the recent past. She is running to bring professionalism back to the office.
Marilyn Williams is the current Court Clerk, serving since 2016. This would be her third term if she is re-elected. She started working in the County Clerk’s office in 2001. It doesn’t seem as though former and current employees have much respect for her leadership. There seems to be an enormous amount of turn-over in that office in the past eight years. She has a former Deputy Court Clerk as well as a member of the legal profession familiar with the office running against her.
County Commissioner District #2
Each county in Oklahoma has THREE County Commissioner Districts which are approximately equal in population and are numbered as Districts #1, 2, and 3. The Board of County Commissioners are the principal administrators and business managers of the county. They are responsible for maintaining and constructing county roads and bridges, have the power to a) make orders and authorizations, b) inspect and approve county programs and facilities, c). supervise the financial affairs of the county, d) to develop personnel policies, e) investigate the performance of other county officers, f) make agreements affecting the welfare of the citizens of the county and more.
The board is required by law to hold a regular meeting on the first Monday of each month.
The current Cleveland County Commissioners are detailed in the link.
Jacob McHughes has been serving as District #2 Commissioner since September 2023, after Gary Stacy stepped down. He first worked as an assistant Commissioner under then District #3 Rod Cleveland. When asked a question about the turnpikes prior to the Fall 2023 election he stated
“I am for private property rights and support the previous position of the board of county commissioners in opposition.”
John Bowman ran for District #2 County Commissioner in 2023 but lost to Jacob McHughes, who was better funded with a more organized campaign. He is running again, however, there is not much easily accessible information on him. He did make this statement back in Fall 2023 about the NO MORE TURNPIKES movement when asked how he felt about the proposed turnpikes.
“I live in East Norman and while I am backed up to the lake, the turnpike will be a great disruption to the environment and living conditions, so I’m against it.
The community has really come together to fight this and I will do my part in continuing that fight.
I also see that the OTA intends to keep moving forward no matter what and I believe it is important to make sure WE have involvement in that process.
There needs to be growth and development but that also needs to include community involvement, planning and commitment.”
John Bowman did not have a campaign finance report filed in 2024.
Will you vote?
Please?
Local elections are super important.
We need well-informed voter turnout so we elect folks that are truly competent and will speak for the citizens - not special interest groups.
Please vote.
