RANKINGS AND PERCENTAGE ESTIMATES FOR MAJOR CIVIC INDICATORS
In this section, we present the civic health of Oklahoma by looking at ve key indicators in national context: service, participating in a group, connecting to information and current events, social connectedness, and political action. While each indicator represents an important aspect of civic health in Oklahoma, no one indicator should be treated as the sole representation of the state's civic health.

VOLUNTEERING AND SERVICE
In examining the national results, we maintain that people engaged in volunteering and service tend to be more socially connected citizens. Volunteers in Oklahoma are more likely to use email or the Internet to communicate with family and friends (65.9% for volunteers and 46.7% for non–volunteers). Volunteers are more likely to talk to neighbors at least once a week (55.4% for volunteers and 45.3% for non–volunteers). Volunteers and non–volunteers alike eat dinner with family at least once a week (93.6% for volunteers and 89.8% for non–volunteers).

Oklahoma ranks 19th in the nation for volunteering among residents ages 16 and older in 2009, with a volunteering rate of 31.4%. Nationally, 26.8% of Americans report volunteering at least once in the past 12 months. According to VolunteeringinAmerica.gov, an estimated average of 824,000 residents volunteered in Oklahoma between 2007 and 2009. Oklahoma's volunteering rate has increased by three percentage points since 2008. In Oklahoma City, 356,000 adults volunteered with an organization (33.9%), ranking the city 5th among the 51 largest metropolitan areas.

Oklahoma ranks 40th in working with neighbors to solve community problems in 2009, with the rate of 7.5%. Nationwide, 9% of Americans ages 16 and older report working with neighbors to improve the community in the past 12 months. Nationally, there has been an increase in the rate of people working with neighbors. 3 The data from Oklahoma suggest that the rates of people who work with their neighbors have been generally stable.

POLITICS: VOTING AND REGISTRATION, POLITICAL INVOLVEMENT, AND CIVIC TRUST

GEOGRAPHIC PATTERNS OF REGISTRATION
In order to vote in Oklahoma, one must register with a political party, as an independent, or list “no party.” According to registration gures available from the Oklahoma Election Board, the percentage of Democratic registrants has decreased, while the percentages of Republican and independent registrants have increased. As of January 15, 2010, 999,855 (49.0%) voters were registered as Democrats, compared with 1,045,490 (50.4%) in 2007. The Republicans, meanwhile, increased from 805,607 (39.9%) voters in 2007 to 813,158 (39.8%) in 2010 (Oklahoma Election Board, 2007 and 2010). There has been a slight increase in the number of independents with 225,067 voters declaring themselves to be independents in 2010 (or 11.1%) compared with 224,464 (10.8%) independents in 2007.

In looking at voter registration annually since 1960, more Oklahomans have registered as Democrats than as Republicans. 4 Thus, it is not surprising that a large percentage of counties are majority Democrat as well. But here there has been a major change since January 2004. In January 2004, all but eight of Oklahoma's 77 counties were majority Democrat. These eight Republican counties were mostly in the northwestern part of the state, with the exception of Tulsa and Washington counties in the northeast. Counties in the southeast were particularly Democratic, with Choctaw, McCurtain, and Pushmataha having less than 6% Republican registered voters. In 2007 and 2010, however, registered Republicans increased signicantly in the number of majority Republican counties—21 in 2007 and 24 in 2010. 5 The Republicans now have an electoral majority in the Panhandle counties, the other northwestern counties, the highly populated center of the state (Oklahoma, Cleveland, Canadian, Logan, and Noble), and several counties near and including Tulsa. Democrats, on the other hand, hold an electoral majority in the northeastern counties, all the southern counties, and all the southeastern counties.

VOTER REGISTRATION IN RECENT ELECTIONS
Voter registration can be done at tag agencies or in local government ofces. Oklahoma also allows registration by mail for all voters. The closing date for registration before an election is 24 days. One must be a resident of the county where one is registered to vote for at least 30 days. According to the Unofcial DMW Guide website, Oklahoma has what is known as a “closed primary system,” which means that only Democrats can vote in Democratic primaries and only Republicans can vote in Republican primaries. Voters registered as independent must have authorization from the party before voting in primary elections. Of course, all voters may vote on nonpartisan issues including judicial nominations and all county and state questions.

In the November 2008 elections, Oklahoma ranked 36th nationally in voter registration rates, with 70.1% of voters registered, compared to 71.0% nationally. This was a decrease of 2% compared to the 2004 Presidential Elections. 6

VOTER TURNOUT IN RECENT ELECTIONS
One of the measures of political participation is voting turnout. It is measured by the percentage of eligible voters that actually turnout at the polls. Voting turnout in Oklahoma has been slightly higher than the national average with 57.5% for the ten presidential elections between 1960 and 1996. The national average for that same time period was 55.3%. In recent presidential elections, Oklahoma's turnout has been both higher and lower than the national average. In 2000, for example, Oklahoma's turnout rate of 55.3%, which was higher than the national turnout rate of 51.2%. In 2004, Oklahomans set a voting record when 1,463,875 voters cast ballots, the most voters ever. 7 In November 2008, when Oklahomans ranked #1 in terms of the percentage of voters voting for John McCain, Oklahoma ranked 45th in turnout at 58.8%, compared to the national average of 63.6%. Overall for the 2004–2008 elections, Oklahoma ranked 42nd, with a voter turnout rate of 60.5%. 8

As reported by Nathan Elliot on News 9 , a record number of Republican voters turned out for Oklahoma's primary elections in 2010, according to data compiled by American University's Center for the Study of the American Electorate. 9 On the other hand, a record low number of Oklahoma Democrats came to the polls in the July and August 2010 races. In the November 2010 elections, Oklahomans had a turnout rate of 49.7%.

VOTER TURNOUT VARIES BY GEOGRAPHY
Voting turnout varies substantially by geographic region in Oklahoma. As the chart shows, typically the northern sections of the state tend to have the highest voter turnout, while southern Oklahoma tends to have the lowest voter turnout. 10 This is particularly true in the southeastern section of Oklahoma known as “Little Dixie.” This geographic area closely resembles the South in terms of its voting patterns, with less voter participation and more support for Democratic candidates. Education and income usually are strongly correlated, and as a result, the southeastern part of the state has the lowest voter turnout. The county with lowest percentage turnout of registered voters in the 2008 presidential elections was Adair, which was the only county below 55% voter turnout of registered voters. 11 Other counties with lower turnout include Haskell, Latimer, Pushmataha, Choctaw, Bryan, Johnston, and Coal – all counties which are south of I–40 and east of I–35. The counties with the highest percentages of turnout were generally in the northern and southwestern sections of the state, with Major County at over 76% turnout of registered voters in the presidential election. On the other hand, the northeastern part of the state has some of the highest levels of education, with wealthier voters and more Republicans. All of these factors encourage the higher voter turnout found in that region.

POLITICAL DISCUSSION AND ENGAGEMENT IN OKLAHOMA
Although voting is truly important for civic engagement, successful civic engagement requires more than just showing up at the voting booth several times every few years. Citizens need to be active in their community, they need to be discussing politics, they need to have access to civic information, and they need to be engaging in multiple forms of political activity. On several indicators, Oklahomans seem to be “in the middle of the pack” compared to most other states. Oklahoma ranks 31st in the rate of people 18 and older who talk about politics with friends and family at least a few times a week at 39.1%. Nationally, this gure is 39.3%.

ENGAGING IN POLITICAL ACTS AND ATTENDING PUBLIC MEETINGS
Oklahoma ranks 23rd in the percentage of people 18 and older who engage in at least one type of political act (28.6%), which is higher than the national average of 26.3%. Oklahoma ranks 31st among the states in attending public meetings about community affairs in 2009. 12

ACCESS TO INFORMATION
Access to information appears to be less important to Oklahomans. Overall, Oklahomans are more likely to engage in political discussions without frequent and broad access to information. This was particularly true for Generation Xers in Oklahoma, with 22.5% in this category, compared with 16.2% nationwide. 13 Access to information is a signicant predictor of two other forms of political activity: voting and volunteering. In Oklahoma, those who had low access to information and do not discuss politics or current events with others are far less likely to vote than their peers who are more well–connected to information. The gap between these groups was one of the largest among the states that CIRCLE examined. 14 Those with access to information in Oklahoma were also far more likely to volunteer than others. Moreover, Oklahomans who engaged in political discussions with others are also more likely to x something in the community with neighbors. 15

One way to remedy the problem with access to information is education. Education makes a big difference in how Oklahomans participate in politics: 53.4% of college graduates 25 years of age and older were likely to have performed any nonelectoral acts, but only 18.9% of those with a high school graduation over the age of 25 did so. Similarly in the same survey, a smaller percentage of college graduates aged 25 and older (59.3%) said that they did not get news from other Internet sources, while a whopping 89.0% of less than high school graduates said that they did not get news from other Internet sources. Finally, education also made a difference in terms of donating money: 79.9% of college graduates aged 25 and older donated $25 or more, while only 49.1% with a high school graduation did. 16