2012United States presidential election in Oklahoma

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Nominee Mitt Romney Barack Obama Party Republican Democratic Home state Massachusetts Illinois Running mate Paul Ryan Joe Biden Electoral vote 7 0 Popular vote 891,325 443,547 Percentage 66.77% 33.23%

County results Congressional district results Precinct results Romney   40–50%   50–60%   60–70%   70–80%   80–90%   90–100% Obama   40–50%   50–60%   60–70%   70–80%   80–90%   90–100% No votes

President before election Barack Obama Democratic Elected President Barack Obama Democratic

The2012 United States presidential election in Oklahoma took place on November 6, 2012, as part of the2012 United States presidential election in which all 50 states plus theDistrict of Columbia participated. Voters chose seven electors to represent them in theElectoral College via a popular vote pittingincumbentDemocraticPresidentBarack Obama and his running mate,Vice PresidentJoe Biden, againstRepublican challenger and formerMassachusetts GovernorMitt Romney and his running mate,CongressmanPaul Ryan. For the third election in a row since2004, nothird parties were allowed on the ballot.

With an extremelysocially conservative electorate,Oklahoma has in recent years become one of the most Republican states in the nation. For the third cycle in a row, the Republicans won over 65% of the vote and swept every single county in the state.

With 66.77% of the popular vote to Obama's mere 33.23%,Mitt Romney carried almost exactly two thirds of the vote in the state whileObama merely carried one third. His vote share also the remains the third-highest for any Republican presidential candidate in Oklahoma history; as well as the strongest ever for a candidate who was not nationally successful. Oklahoma was Romney's third strongest state in the 2012 election, afterUtah andWyoming.^[1]

President Obama faced four challengers in Oklahoma's Democratic primary. ChallengerRandall Terry took 12 counties with candidate Jim Rogers winning in three counties. CandidatesBob Ely and Darcy Richardson also appeared on Oklahoma's ballot but failed to obtain a majority of votes in any county.

2012 Oklahoma Democratic presidential primary[2]
Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Projected national delegates[2]
Barack Obama(incumbent)	64,259	57.07%	35
Randall Terry	20,294	18.02%	7
Jim Rogers	15,535	13.80%	3
Darcy Richardson	7,192	6.39%	0
Bob Ely	5,318	4.72%	0
Totals	112,598	100.00%	45

The Republican primary took place onSuper Tuesday, March 6, 2012.^[3][4]

Oklahoma had 43 delegates to the2012 Republican National Convention. Three superdelegates were unbound by the primary results. 15 delegates were allocated by congressional districts, with 3 delegates for each district. If a candidate got a majority of the vote in a district, he took all 3 delegates from that district; if no one got a majority, the delegates were split either 2-to-1 or 1-1-1 depending on how many candidates got at least 15% of the vote. Another 25 delegates were awarded to the candidate who won a majority in the state, or allocated proportionately among candidates winning at least 15% of the vote statewide if no one got a majority.^[5]

2012 Oklahoma Republican presidential primary[6]
Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Projected national delegates[7]
Rick Santorum	96,849	33.8%	14
Mitt Romney	80,356	28.0%	13
Newt Gingrich	78,730	27.5%	13
Ron Paul	27,596	9.6%	0
Rick Perry	1,291	0.45%	0
Michele Bachmann	951	0.33%	0
Jon Huntsman	750	0.26%	0
Unprojected delegates			3
Totals	286,523	100.0%	43

Fifteen delegates to the 2012 Republican national convention were elected at congressional-district conventions March 31 to April 14, 2012 — three from each of Oklahoma's five congressional districts.^[8][9]

The Oklahoma Republican State Convention was held May 11–12, 2012 inNorman. Irregularities were reported.^[8][10]

At least two Ron Paul supporters said they were physically attacked by Romney supporters.^[11][12]

Oklahoma's (Republican) Governor Mary Fallin tried to speak at the convention. After loud chants of "Ron Paul" from the floor, she stated (referring to Romney) "We have a presidential nominee", resulting in loud booing.^[12]

Paul supporters said that the convention was stopped with unfinished business, without a two-thirds vote, and therefore against parliamentary procedure.^[13] It was reported that, after the convention was said to be adjourned, a partition in the room was moved, isolating many attendees from the rest of the body. The lights were turned out momentarily.^[10]

After the convention was stopped and the chairman left, many Paul supporters assembled outside and held a rump convention, chaired by Jake Peters, at which they elected a slate of Paul supporters as delegates to the national convention.^[12][14]

Four Paul supporters, including Jake Peters, made a formal complaint to the Oklahoma Republican Party, saying that Party rules were broken by failing to take a roll-call vote on the delegate slate and that the convention was adjourned without the required vote. The complaint asserted that state law is involved in the Republican Party's nominating process and cited case law to the effect that party process should be considered "an integral part of the State's election system".^[13][15][16]

Romney won all five congressional districts.^[25]

As expected,Mitt Romney swept every county in the state, carrying 66.77% of the vote toObama's measly 33.23%. Romney capitalized on his strength amongst white and conservative voters – Oklahoma's population is 65.6% white^[26] (a demographic Romney won nationwide by 59% to Obama's 39%)^[27] and the state has a Cook Partisan Voting Index of R+20, tied for the second most Republican in the nation along withUtah.^[28] His strongest performance was in the Oklahoma Panhandle, one of the most staunchly conservative regions in the country, where he garnered 80% to 90% of the vote in many of these counties. Romney also performed well in theLittle Dixie region and on the state's border withTexas. Despite many counties having a plurality of registered Democratic voters exceeding the number of registered Republicans (such asComanche andOkmulgee),^[29] Obama failed to carry any counties. However, Obama was still able to garner margins of around 45% to Romney's 55% in some counties, such asCherokee County (Obama's best performance), which is 36.4%Native American and home to the capital of theCherokee Nation,Tahlequah,^[30][31] andMuskogee County, which is located in theCreek Nation.^[32] He also had a formidable, but still lackluster, performance inOklahoma County, home to the state's capital and largest city,Oklahoma City, which is quite conservative despite being the state's most urban region.

• United States presidential elections in Oklahoma
• 2012 Republican Party presidential debates and forums
• 2012 Republican Party presidential primaries
• Results of the 2012 Republican Party presidential primaries
• Oklahoma Republican Party

• The Green Papers: for Oklahoma
• The Green Papers: Major state elections in chronological order

• United States presidential elections in Oklahoma
• 2012 Oklahoma elections
• 2012 United States presidential election by state

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