Hundreds of candidates expected to file for political office this week | Govt-and-politics

Filing starts at 8 a.m. Wednesday and ends at 5 p.m. Friday on the ground floor.

State Election Board Secretary Paul Ziriax expects just under 600 candidates to file.

“Wednesday is always the busiest day for candidate filing,” Ziriax said. “It is best not to wait until the last minute on Friday, because if you do have issues with paperwork or a filing fee or anything like that that might disqualify you from making the ballot, you have time to get that fixed prior to the deadline.”

Posts up for election include two U.S. Senate seats, five U.S. House seats, governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, state treasurer, state superintendent, state auditor and inspector, labor commissioner, insurance commissioner and corporation commissioner.

In addition, 24 state Senate seats and 101 state House seats are up for grabs.

Filing will also include district judges, associate district judges and district attorneys.

Appellate court judges file with the secretary of state and will be on the general election retention ballot.

Contests to candidate qualifications must be filed by 5 p.m. on the Tuesday following the end of the filing period.

Rep. John Waldron, D-Tulsa, will be seeking his third term in the state House.

“Races are hard,” Waldron said. “Races are challenging, but the voters deserve a choice. You can’t be afraid of a little opposition.”

He said knocking on doors and talking to voters is the best way to learn how to represent them.

Rep. Ross Ford, R-Broken Arrow, will also seek another term.

“I am excited about it,” Ford said. “At the same time, you are just kind of wondering about the unknown, if you will have an opponent or how many opponents you may have.”

Sen. John Haste, R-Broken Arrow, said the filing process is not hard but that candidates need to make sure they have their paperwork done correctly.

In 2018, during a period when teachers were demonstrating, the state had a modern record of 794 candidates file, Ziriax said.

“But going back to the early 2000s, typically the number of candidates who filed during the gubernatorial year is a little less than 600 in most cases,” Ziriax said. “My expectation for 2022 — it will be closer to the historical average than the modern record we saw in 2018.”

Candidate filing packets can be found on the Oklahoma State Election Board website. The packets include a check list.

Candidate qualifications and the filing fees are also on the website. The fees range from $2,000 for U.S. Senate to $500 for district attorney.

The primary election is June 28, and the primary runoff is Aug. 23. The general election is Nov. 8.