By Brendan Hoover
Managing Editor
The public is invited to a come-and-go reception for Mustang Board of Education Member Curtis Brewer on Monday, Feb. 8 from 5:30-6:30 p.m. at the Mustang Education Center/George P. Morris Alternative Education Center, 400 North Clear Springs Road in Mustang.
After 10 years of service, Brewer will vacate the Mustang School Board’s Office 5 seat following Monday’s regular school board meeting.
An election is set for Feb. 9 to choose the new Office 5 representative. All registered voters who live in the Mustang school district are eligible to vote.
Two men are on the ballot for the seat. Local insurance agent Chad Fulton and Extreme Community Church
Pastor Mike Buckley both filed candidacy paperwork with the Canadian County Election Board in El Reno.
After filing for the office in December, Buckley later threw his support behind Fulton, his friend and fellow Mustang Chamber of Commerce member.
Mustang School Board Office 4 incumbent Amanda Strassle won reelection unopposed. She will serve a four-year unexpired term. The new board members will be sworn in during the regular meeting on March 8.
Brewer’s departure is a loss for the district, Superintendent Bonnie Lightfoot said.
“Curtis is a board member that exemplifies that students come first. Every decision he makes is for what is best for our students,” Lightfoot said. “He has served on the board for ten years. Through the contributions of selfless people like Curtis, Mustang Public Schools is one of the best districts in Oklahoma.”
Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. for the school board elections, Wanda Armold, Secretary of the Canadian County Election Board, said.
Armold offered voters some tips on how to make their votes count.
Armold said that a valid marking---a filled-in arrow---is shown on posters at the polling place and inside the voting booths. If voters make mistakes marking their ballots, Armold said they should not try to correct those errors. Instead, voters should return the spoiled ballots to the Precinct Officials, who will destroy them and issue a new ballot to the voter.
Armold also urged voters to take their voter identification cards with them to the polls. "Your voter identification card can help Precinct Officials find your name in the Precinct Registry, and it may also help them resolve the problem if you are not listed in the Precinct Registry.
Voters whose names are not found in the Precinct Registry, or a voter who disagrees with the information shown in the Registry, may need to cast a provisional ballot. A provisional ballot is sealed in a special envelope and counted after election day if the voter's information can be verified by the County Election Board.
Armold said that voters who want to get through the line quickly should vote at mid-morning or mid-afternoon, because those usually are the two slowest periods for voting during the day.
"Anyone who is eligible and in line at the polling place at 7 p.m. on Tuesday will be entitled to vote," she added.
Following is a list of the precinct polling places in Canadian County which will be open on Feb. 9:
Mustang School District:
126: Banner School – 2455 North Banner Road , El Reno
215: New Dimensions Church , 701 North Cemetery Road , Yukon
221: Canadian Hills Nazarene Church – 11744 West Reno Ave , Yukon
222: Church of Christ – 11700 N.W. 10th Street , Yukon
223: Canadian Valley Tech. Center – Dr. Earl Cowan Campus – 1701 S. Czech Hall Rd , Yukon
224: Canadian Valley Baptist Church – 11500 S.W. 15th Street , Yukon
225: Mustang North Middle School – 10901 S.W. 15th Street , Yukon
226: Westpoint Christian Church – 1600 South Richland Road , Yukon
227: United Methodist Church of the Good Shepherd – 10928 S.W. 15th Street , Yukon
300: Holy Spirit Catholic Church – 1100 North Sara Road , Mustang
301: Mustang Community Center – 1201 North Mustang Road , Mustang
302: Mustang Nazarene Church – 700 East Highway 152, Mustang
304: Mustang Heights Baptist Church – 646 West Highway 152, Mustang
305: The Bridge A G – Crossfire JV Building – 1116 West Highway 152, Mustang
306: Chisholm Heights Baptist Church – 2243 West Highway 152, Mustang
700: Church of Christ – 11700 N.W. 10th Street , Yukon
Registered voters in Canadian County who become physically incapacitated after 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 2, won’t have to miss the elections, Armold said.
Armold said state law permits registered voters who will be unable to go to the polls because they became incapacitated after 5 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 2, to vote on an emergency basis. "Physical incapacitation" includes a variety of conditions---injury, illness, childbirth---that prevent a person from voting in person at the polls on election day.
“If you think that you or someone you know fits into this category, contact the County Election Board office at (405) 422-2422 as soon as possible for more information,” Armold said.
Registered voters in Canadian County who want to vote by mail absentee ballot in next Tuesday’s elections have missed the application deadline, County Election Board Secretary Wanda Armold said today.
"They aren’t out of luck, however," Armold said.
Voters who want to cast absentee ballots can still do so at the County Election Board office on Friday, Feb. 5, or Monday, Feb. 8, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. A two-member, bipartisan Absentee Voting Board will be on duty each day to assist absentee voters.
"In-person absentee voters fill out an application form when they get to the office. They are not required to give a reason for voting absentee," Armold said. "They are required to swear that they have not voted a regular mail absentee ballot and that they will not vote at their polling places on election day."
According to Armold, the Absentee Voting Board verifies a voter’s registration information, then issues the voter's ballots. The voter marks the ballots in a voting booth and then puts them in the voting device. "It is very much like voting at a precinct polling place," said Armold.
Contact the County Election Board, located at 200 S. Bickford Ave , El Reno , for more information. The telephone number is (405) 422-2422.