Tulsa Election 2026: August 2026 Archives

In-person absentee voting will be available at your county's early voting locations on Thursday, August 20, 2026, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., on Friday, August 21, 2026, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., and on Saturday, August 22, 2026, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tulsa County will have in-person absentee voting at the new Tulsa County Election Board location at 12000 E. Skelly Drive and at Tulsa Tech Broken Arrow Campus near 111th Street S & 129th East Ave (aka Florence and Olive). Polls in each precinct will be open Tuesday, August 25, 2026, from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m.

NOTE: Precinct boundaries, voting locations, and district boundaries have changed, in some cases dramatically. Enter your name and date of birth on the Oklahoma State Election Board's online voter portal and you will see where to vote and your sample ballot.

In response to popular demand, I have assembled the guidance detailed below into a downloadable, printable, single-page PDF.

Originally posted on August 11, 2026, and postdated to remain at the top until the polls close on Election Day. I will be adding more links and detail between now and the election.

Here are the candidates I'm recommending and (if in the district) voting for in the Oklahoma Republican primary elections on August 25, 2026. Click the hyperlink on the office to see detailed information on that race and its candidates. (This entry will change as I decide to add more detail, link previous articles, or discuss additional races between now and election day. The entry is post-dated to keep it at the top.)

As I post this, I'm still unsure about several races, and there are other races I had planned to write about in detail, but time is short, people are voting, and many have asked for a summary of my recommendations. My most enthusiastic choices are in bold; in other races, there may be one or two other candidates that would be acceptable, or I simply don't know the endorsed candidate as well as I would like. There are certain incumbents that I'd like to see defeated, but I don't feel comfortable endorsing an opponent at this point. I'll try to fill in TBDs and NOTs before the start of early voting.

• SQ 844 (reimbursement flexibility for property tax exemptions): YES
• SQ 846 (Constitutional voter ID): YES

• Governor: Mike Mazzei
• Superintendent of Public Instruction: James Taylor
• Labor Commissioner: Kevin West
• Insurance Commissioner: Marty Quinn

There are a number of legislative seats statewide with runoffs, but these two are the only ones in the Tulsa area.

• Senate 34: Dana Prieto (i)
• House 9: Scotty Stokes

For legislative races elsewhere, see my ballot card. I took Charlie Meadows's picks as a starting point, then looked at campaign contributions and expenditures. Certain donors and consultants are red flags and indicate a likelihood that the candidate will be a tool (wittingly or unwittingly) of special interests once in office. In a few races, I've gone against a less than enthusiastic pick from Charlie because of the preponderance of red flags on one side.

There are six contested Tulsa City Council seats and one proposition. My picks are based in part on a desire to replace every incumbent possible, especially the Mean Girls Clique, based in part on what campaign contributions filings have revealed about each candidate's alignments and affiliations. You can read my detailed discussion of the six City Council races in the full article, but here are my picks.

• District 1: Reggie Williams Jr (D) (Anyone but incumbent Vanessa Hall-Harper)
• District 2: Aaron Bisogno (R)
• District 3: No recommendation
• District 5: Karen Gilbert (R)
• District 7: Dave Perry (R) (Anyone but incumbent Lori Decter Wright)
• District 9: Shawn Tiemann (D)
• City of Tulsa ONG franchise renewal: YES

I was waiting for the campaign contribution reports due on August 17 to see who the philanthropocrats and the Chamber are backing, but even before I had that information in hand, I mainly wanted to get rid of the Mean Girl Caucus on the City Council. At a recent City Council meeting, while a citizen spoke about the need for independent ethics oversight of the Council, Hall Harper, Dutton, Decter Wright, Laura Bellis, and one redacted non-councilor engaged in ridicule of the speaker over a group chat, giggling and trading looks. Their behavior appalls former councilors across the political spectrum. This isn't the first time they've been caught in this childish behavior. They're on the record labeling conservative Tulsans as "actual fascists," but Bellis, Hall Harper, and Decter Wright teamed up with GT Bynum to keep one of their council colleagues from working for a living because he dared to oppose a tax increase. That seems pretty fascistic to me. If Hall Harper, Dutton, Decter Wright, and Bellis lack the impulse control to wait until after the meeting to share their snarky comments, they don't belong on the City Council. Bellis, alas, is unopposed, but defeating the other three would be a good start.

The only hesitation in District 3 is that Dutton's opponent, Tanisha Bowen, is backed by Mayor Nichols's Tulsa Forward PAC. Sadly, we don't have a third choice.

UPDATE 2026/08/23: After finally connecting with Dave Perry by phone, I was impressed with his knowledge of issues before the council and his key concerns. Although he is recently back in Tulsa, returning to care for aging parents during the pandemic, he attended Union schools in the '70s and '80s and thus has the longest history in Tulsa of any of the three candidates.

In the suburbs:

• Wagoner County Commission District 3: Dennis McCollough
• Bixby Proposition No. 1 ($16,650,000 public safety bond issue): NO
• Bixby Proposition No. 2 ($35,000,000 streets bond issue): NO
• Bixby Proposition No. 3 ($850,000 parks bond issue): NO
• Bixby Proposition No. 4 ($25,000,000 sanitary sewer bond issue): NO

Wagoner County friends tell me that Dennis McCollough is a solid guy who spent his career at the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation and understands budgets and management. He has been endorsed by the two candidates who did not advance to the runoff. His opponent, Patrick Sampson, makes a lot of conservative noises on social media but his public statements involving his residency and eligibility for the seat may have him in legal trouble.

The projects proposed for the four Bixby bond issue propositions all sound reasonable, but given the issues with city officials of late, voters may want to take this opportunity to cast a vote of no confidence and see some turnover on the council before entrusting city government with more cash.

MORE INFORMATION:

POLLING:

• Pulse Decision Science poll released August 7 has Mazzei leading Drummond 44-38
• CHS poll has Mazzei and Drummond tied, 44 each

OTHER CONSERVATIVE VOICES:

Here are some blogs, endorsement lists, candidate questionnaires, and sources of information for your consideration.

• Muskogee Politico news, questionnaires, and analysis
• Muskogee Politico legislator tax votes, 2016-2018
• Jason Murphey Primary Voter Guide
• Charlie Meadows's picks
• Oklahoma Constitution Index: Scores incumbent legislators on voting record
• iVoterGuide surveys of Oklahoma statewide, federal, and legislative candidates
• Tulsa County Republican Party candidate guide, with links to social media, GOP questionnaires, and GOP candidate interview transcripts
• Make Oklahoma Healthy Again (MOHA) endorsements -- formerly Oklahomans for Health and Parental Rights (OKHPR)
• Oklahomans for Life candidate surveys: Oklahomans for the 2nd Amendment (OK2A)
• NRA-PVF survey grades and endorsements
• Tulsa Beacon endorsements

ANTI-CONSERVATIVE VOICES:

Historically there have been some endorsement lists that are generally negative indicators, including public employees and teacher's unions (and front groups like Oklahomans for Public Education), but these groups have become careful to conceal their support, which backfires in a Republican primary.

The State Chamber of Oklahoma puts out a voter guide that lists State Chamber PAC endorsements, and it's been updated for the runoff. Being pro-business is great, but please read my 2016 article "Chambers of Horrors" to understand why social and fiscal conservatives, opponents of cronyism, and supporters of historic preservation should find Chamber endorsements problematic.

There are some self-styled "conservative influencers" who have shown themselves confused, inconsistent, or downright treacherous. Caveat lector. Anyone who would work to replace the only conservative on the Tulsa school board with a progressive or promote RINO Gentner Drummond for Governor, or anyone who promotes an inexperienced left-winger for District Attorney, is not someone conservatives should look to for endorsements.

If you appreciate the many hours of research that went into this guide and into the rest of my election coverage, and if you'd like to help keep this site online, you can contribute to BatesLine's upkeep via PayPal. You can also support BatesLine through a paid Substack subscription. In addition to keeping me caffeinated, donated funds pay for web hosting, subscriptions, and paid databases I use for research. Many thanks to those generous readers who have already contributed.

Earlier this month, I was a guest on David McLain's Truth in Focus Media podcast (TIFMedia on Rumble) to discuss the August 25, 2026, runoff, state questions, and a few other articles here on BatesLine. The episode was recorded on August 6, before many of the developments in the last weeks of the campaign.

This Saturday I was on Tulsa Beacon Weekend on KCFO AM 970 with Jeff Brucculeri to preview the August 25, 2026, runoff and City of Tulsa general election. In addition to the four statewide Republican runoff elections and the six Tulsa City Council seats, we covered the two state questions, SQ 844 and SQ 846, and the Senate 34 runoff.

The hour-long interview show, sponsored by the weekly Tulsa Beacon newspaper, airs live each week at noon Saturday on AM 970 and streaming online.

You can always find the latest episode of Tulsa Beacon Weekend at this link. I've made a Wayback Machine capture of this week's episode at this permalink.

The Tulsa Beacon newspaper is available by mail subscription, at Wild Birds Unlimited at 61st and Yale, and at the Minute Stop at 131st Street and Aspen in Broken Arrow.

It's disheartening just to watch what's been happening at Tulsa City Hall, and even more disheartening to write about it.

There was a time when I relished digging into the latest issue before the Council, but that was back when we managed to get some good councilors elected on a regular basis, people with integrity and a backbone. It felt possible to make a difference. It hasn't felt like that since the big changes to the election system before 2016.

I appreciate those who continue to post about Tulsa politics on social media, people like RealitySnark (formerly Snarkio) on X, RobertDInTulsa, who monitors the scanner and covers local crime news on X, and This Is Tulsa Too on Facebook. Restaurant reviewer and restaurateur Steve Pisonero recently launched a Facebook group about the homeless blight in Tulsa; all the politically correct folks are appalled, but the people who participate in the discussion are genuinely trying to grapple with real causes and real solutions, not the expensive and unrealistic approaches that keep gender-studies majors employed at non-profits in the Homeless-Industrial Complex.

Tuesday, August 25, 2026, is the City of Tulsa general election. Six of the nine City Council seats are contested; City Auditor Nathan Pickard and Councilors Laura Bellis (District 4), Christian Bengel (District 6), and Phil Lakin (District 8) were re-elected without opposition. A candidate receiving more than 50% of the vote on August 25 has been elected. If no candidate gets more than 50%, there will be a runoff on November 3 between the top candidates whose votes total more than 50%. This is slightly different from a traditional two-candidate runoff in that, if there are more than four candidates and the vote is evenly split (e.g. 24%, 23%, 20%, 18%, 15%), there may be a three-candidate runoff. Unlikely, but possible this year in District 1.

I am not thrilled with our choices. I can only surmise that fewer and fewer Tulsans think the city is worth fighting for, that anything can be done to stop the slide. Many of the challengers look like they jumped in last minute, which is honorable -- I filed for my first council race at 4 p.m. the last day of filing -- and think campaigning consists of nothing more than a website and forum appearances, which is ineffective.

The lack of enthusiasm is evident as you drive around Tulsa. In Council Districts 3 and 7, I saw no indication that a campaign was underway. There were a few yard signs for candidates in the Republican runoff, a few for statewide Democrat candidates, but there were no signs for either the incumbent councilor or challengers. I saw exactly one sign in District 5, supporting incumbent Karen Gilbert. All three candidates are active in District 9, an open seat. Things have been just as quiet on social media.

The most energy and enthusiasm has been in District 1 where four candidates are challenging the incumbent. I saw signs around the district for all but one of the five candidates in roughly equal numbers.

If we're to have any hope of returning Tulsa city government to sanity, the first step is to break up the Mean Girl Clique on the City Council.

At a recent City Council meeting, while a citizen spoke about the need for independent ethics oversight of the Council, Councilors Vanessa Hall Harper, Jackie Dutton, Lori Decter Wright, Laura Bellis, and one redacted non-councilor engaged in ridicule of the speaker over a group chat, giggling and trading looks.

Their behavior appalls former councilors across the political spectrum. This isn't the first time they've been caught in this childish behavior. They're on the record labeling conservative Tulsans as "actual fascists," but Bellis, Hall Harper, and Decter Wright teamed up with GT Bynum to keep one of their council colleagues from working for a living because he dared to oppose a tax increase. That seems pretty fascistic to me. If Hall Harper, Dutton, Decter Wright, and Bellis lack the impulse control to wait until after the meeting to share their snarky comments, they don't belong on the City Council. Bellis, alas, is unopposed, but defeating the other three would be a good start.

The second priority -- and this aligns with the first one -- is to replace as many philanthropocrats and non-profiteers as possible with people who work for a living.

If it seems like I'm grasping at straws in these recommendations, it's because I am. There's not a single candidate running this year that ticks all the boxes -- or even most of the boxes.

If we want high-quality candidates to run for council there needs to be a high-quality organization recruiting them a year ahead of time, preparing them to run, marshalling resources to support their campaigns, and continuing to provide support once they're elected.

With those qualifications in mind, let's look at each race in turn:

Only three of 17 active candidates for Tulsa City Council have filed the required pre-election contributions and expenditures report with the Oklahoma Ethics Commission. Tanisha Bowen (District 3), Adam Burnett (District 5), and Ben Johnson (District 9), all Democrats, filed their ethics reports by today's 5:00 pm deadline. All three have received donations from Tulsa Forward PAC, the political action committee established by Mayor Monroe Nichols and headed by his chief of staff, Dana Walton. Bowen received $1,000 from Tulsa Forward PAC, Burnett received $1,000, and Johnson received $750. (UPDATE: Pete Regan also received $1,000 from Tulsa Forward PAC.)

Attorney Adam Burnett, who is challenging incumbent District 5 Republican councilor Karen Gilbert, also received donations from Oklahoma Democrat Party chairman Erin Brewer, Democrat Congressional nominee John "Flaky" Croisant, Kalyn Free, Linda Jordan, Margaret Kobos, former Attorney General Steve Lewis, Vince Lovoi, American Theater Company president Bob Odle, Don Smolen. Burnett is a partner in Frasier, Frasier, and Hickman, a personal injury law firm, and he received donations from the name partners, Jim Frasier, Frank Frasier, and Steven Hickman. Jim Frasier is a former Democrat National Committeeman and a former member of the Democrat National Committee. Burnett has raised $15,520.00.

One additional candidate, Pete Regan (District 9) has been filing Continuing Reports of Contributions, but has not filed the required Report of Contributions and Expenditures. Continuing Reports of Contributions are intended for reporting large contributions that arrive after the close of the pre-election reporting period two weeks before the election. Collectively, the Continuing Reports of Contributions total $29,583.96, including $3,000 from incumbent District 9 Councilor and former State Representative Carol Bush, and $3,500 from Cherokee Composites founder Lisa Surritte of Claremore, $3,500 each from FC Tulsa executive director Ryan Craft and Lauren Craft, $3,500 each from Association of Oklahoma General Contractors executive director Bobby Stem and Tiffany Stem of Edmond, $3,500 each from William and Linda Price of Price Family Properties, $1,000 from OSU Center for Health Systems Innovation executive director William Paiva, $1,000 from Tulsa attorney Robert Blakemore. UPDATE 2026/08/19: Regan filed his Report of Contributions and Expenditures after the deadline on Monday. He has raised $179,649.41 -- an insane amount for a City Council election -- and it includes contributions from George Kaiser, former Mayors Kathy Taylor and G. T. Bynum, Tulsa Bizpac (the Chamber's PAC), Tulsa Forward PAC, and the FOP and Firefighters PAC. CAMP is his campaign consultant.

Three more candidates filed Statements of Organization but did not file the Report of Contributions and Expenditures that was due today: Mareo Johnson and Corinice Wilson in District 1, Shawn Tiemann in District 9. Johnson and Tiemann filed their Statements of Organization today, Wilson filed hers on August 4.

UPDATE 2026/08/18: Corinice Wilson (District 1) filed her Report of Contributions and Expenditures at 11:53 pm on August 17.

Effective November 1, 2025, municipal candidates in large cities (population of 10,000 or more as of the last Federal decennial census and a general revenue fund expenditure budget in excess of $10,000,000) are now required to file electronically with the Oklahoma Ethics Commission instead of with their local city clerk.

While the mechanics of filing have changed, the basics of filing are the same as they were over 20 years ago. Reports of Contributions and Expenditures are due at 5:00 pm Monday eight days before the election, to cover all contributions and spending (as well as loans and other transfers) through the Tuesday two weeks before the election. Anyone who has raised or spent at least $1,000 must file reports.

Here are direct links to each of the candidates on the Oklahoma Ethics Commission's Guardian website, with the amounts each has reported raised.

• Mareo Donnell Johnson, District 1, no report
• Corinice Wilson, District 1, $19,318.00 (late report)
• Tanisha Bowen, District 3, $4,300.00
• Adam Burnett, District 5, $15,520.00
• Ben Johnson, District 9, $6,495.00
• Peter Regan, District 9, $179,649.41
• Shawn Christopher Tiemann, District 9, no report

Several candidates, including most of the City Council incumbents, had filed earlier statements of organization and quarterly reports through the temporary local campaign filings portal. Click that link and type "Tulsa" or the name of the candidate into the search box to pull up all filings for a candidate. Click a filing to see the individual summaries and schedules that constitute a filing. As awkward as the old Guardian system is, this is even worse. As of June 1, 2026, the Guardian system has been expanded to cover county, municipal, and school board candidates, and all future filings must be through Guardian.

The following city candidates showed up on the Ethics Commission's temporary portal. The candidate's most recent filing on record, plus the amount raised by that date, plus any carryover from the previous campaign committee, is listed with each name:

• Vanessa Hall-Harper, District 1, 2026 2nd Quarter, $473.76 + $8,370.07 carryover
• Anthony Archie, District 2, 2026 1st Quarter, $100.00 + $6,954.80 carryover
• Jackie Dutton, District 3, 2026 2nd Quarter, $500.00 + $3,679.68 carryover
• Laura Bellis, District 4, 2026 1st Quarter, $12,272.00 + $15,773.95 carryover
• Karen Gilbert, District 5, 2026 2nd Quarter, $525.00 + $12,041.71 carryover
• Christian Bengel, District 6, 2026 2nd Quarter, no activity reported
• Lori Decter Wright, District 7, 2026 2nd Quarter, $1,695.00 + $8,762.67 carryover

Of interest from those reports:

Decter Wright received $500 each from billionaire George Kaiser and his son Philip Kaiser. UPDATE 2026/08/19: Decter Wright appears to have resubmitted the summary of her 2nd quarter report to the temporary local campaign filings portal. No schedules were attached showing contributions or spending.

Bellis's summary shows $12,272.00 raised during the 2026 1st Quarter, including $1,250 from Susan Nichols, manager at Main Square Properties, $1,000 from Aaron Bean, Managing Director of Asemio, $750 from Grant Bumgarner, affiliated with various GKFF initiatives, $500 from former Mayor Kathy Taylor, $250 from Lynn Schusterman, $250 from George Kaiser Family Foundation employee Annie Van Hanken, $250 from Maxine and Jack Zarrow Family Foundation executive director Monica Basu.

Asemio is a company that facilitates data sharing between government agencies and non-profits. From one of the case studies on their website:

In 2019, Asemio teamed up with the Birth Through Eight Strategy for Tulsa (BEST), supported by George Kaiser Family Foundation (GKFF) and Blue Meridian Partners, to support community outcomes improvement initiatives by making data sharing easier....

"The health department is committed to the health and well-being of all of Tulsa county. This particular project has helped us expand into serving all of Tulsa county--people who may or may not have ever interacted with the Health Department." -- Monica Rogers[, Division Chief of Data & Technology, Tulsa Health Department]

The report doesn't describe any positive outcomes benefiting the public, but the quotes indicate how delighted all the stakeholders are with being able to share data.

The overarching impression is that left-wing interests -- philanthropists and their non-profit minions -- are funding Tulsa's city candidates, while traditional Republican donors and groups are simply not involved. Here's a theory: Republicans are spending all their money and attention on highly contested statewide races, while Democrats, with few primaries and runoffs and little chance of winning statewide, are directing their funds and focus to "non-partisan" municipal and school board races.

MORE: One PAC related to Tulsa has filed with the Oklahoma Ethics Commission. North Tulsa for Change PAC filed a statement of organization on August 4, 2026, the same day that Corinice Wilson's statement of organization was filed. Sharmien Watkins is listed as the chairperson of both the Wilson campaign and the North Tulsa for Change PAC, and both list the same address, 2250 N. Main Street. The following statement was posted on Wilson's campaign page on Facebook the evening of August 17, 2026:

Good evening, District 1,

We want to provide the full facts about the newly registered North Tulsa For Change PAC and its relationship to the Corinice Wilson campaign.

Public records show that individuals working with the campaign are also registered with the PAC. We are not attempting to obscure that relationship. However, the PAC has received no contributions, made no expenditures, purchased no advertising, and funded no campaign activity.

The PAC was established as a long-term vehicle to support principled local leaders and policies that strengthen North Tulsa. It was registered in advance so the proper reporting structure would exist before any money was accepted or spent. The PAC and Dr. Wilson's campaign remain separately registered committees, and all financial activity will be publicly reported as required.

We also want to clarify Dr. Wilson's initial response reported by The Black Wall Street Times. She returned a call from an unfamiliar number. During the approximately one-minute conversation, the caller did not initially identify himself as a journalist, name the publication, or specify the PAC. Once he identified the PAC, Dr. Wilson explained that she was entering class and needed time to "research," meaning she needed to verify its filing and financial information before responding accurately. A campaign representative was later contacted only an hour before the reporter's deadline.

Scrutiny of political money is fair and important, but context also matters. We have provided these facts to The Black Wall Street Times and formally requested an update.
The facts are straightforward: the PAC exists, there is personnel overlap, and it has received no contributions and made no expenditures.

In community,
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The Black Wall Street Times article is here.

Looking at other PACs active in Tulsa:

Tulsa Forward PAC 2nd quarter report includes $5,000 each from the Cherokee Nation, Muscogee Creek Nation, and Osage Nation, $5,000 from Anne and Henry Zarrow Foundation president Judith Kishner, $5,000 from Steve Mitchell, who heads George Kaiser's private equity company Argonaut, $5,000 from former Omni Air head Rob Coretz (misspelled as Cortez in the report), $5,000 from William Price of Price Family Properties, $1,000 from trial lawyer Clark Brewster, $1,000 from Emily Kaiser, $1,000 from former Democrat Mayor Kathy Taylor, and $2,500 from Groundwork Project PAC (see below). Tulsa Forward PAC has donated to Nick Coffey for Attorney General, Jason Lowe for Oklahoma County Commissioner, Ronald Stewart for State House, and Monroe for Mayor. Tulsa Council contributions that have been reported by the candidates should show up in the Q3 Tulsa Forward report.

Groundwork Project PAC, a Massachusetts based organization that also gave $2,500 to Democrat Cyndi Munson for Governor.

Groundwork Project PAC lists as its purpose:

To help communities win political power and representation, supporting candidates who will fight to deliver justice, equity and democracy to states and regions too often ignored.

Groundwork Project PAC sent this email after the defeat of SQ 832, the infinitely escalating minimum wage constitutional amendment, claiming the vote was rigged against them:

This is what happens when Democrats write states off and leave the field. They give the GOP control of every lever of power, so they can engineer the outcome they want - even when voters are on our side. Heroic local organizers worked their hearts out and did all they could to bring resources into the fight, facing big conservative money at every turn.

In another recent email, Cyndi Munson encourages donors to give to her and to Groundwork Project PAC. The associated non-profit, Groundwork Project, was founded by former Congressman Joe Kennedy III. Last fall, Kennedy identified Oklahoma as one of his four target states, along with Alabama, Mississippi, and West Virginia.

In these states, anti-democratic forces have spent decades building a base to challenge abortion access, voting rights, LGBTQ+ rights, fair representation, and more. We're fighting back by equipping local organizers with the resources they need to win.

All that to say: If you see or hear Monroe Nichols, Cyndi Munson, John Croisant, and other Oklahoma Democrats trying to distance themselves from national "progressive" politicians, they're lying to you.

Links to the Tulsa public safety union PACs. Be warned that their contributions reports are very long, as they consist mainly of small regular donations from individual members. Neither group has reported contributions to city candidates.

• Tulsa FOP Lodge 93 PAC: $10,000 given in 2nd Quarter to Tulsa County District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler, Senate 34 candidate Aaron Forst, and House 86 candidate David Hardin
• Tulsa Firefighters PAC: $16,000 given in 2nd Quarter to legislative candidates Ally Seifried (Senate 2), Randy Cornelius (Senate 17), Brent Driskill (Senate 34), Scotty Stokes (House 9), Sheila Dills (House 69), to Lt. Gov. candidate T. W. Shannon, to Tulsa County Treasurer John Fothergill and District 1 County Commissioner Stan Sallee.

Have you ever thought about how utility companies get the right to run pipes and cables over or under your back fence or under city streets? When a subdivision is laid out (platted), easements are dedicated by the developer to the city. Some of these are for streets and are owned by the city, while the easements along your back fence (typically five feet from the fence) remain in your ownership, but the City has limited rights to run sewer lines and other utilities through the easement and to grant franchises to utility companies to run their own overhead lines and underground cables and pipes. These franchises are long-term but not permanent and must be renewed when they expire, which opens up an opportunity for city and utility to renegotiate terms. Under Article VIII, Section 4, of the Tulsa City Charter, each franchise must be approved by a vote of the people.

On August 25, 2026, all Tulsans, whether or not there is a City Council race on the ballot, can vote on whether to renew the franchise for Oklahoma Natural Gas for the next 20 years.

The last vote on ONG's franchise was on August 9, 2011, and codified as Title 15, Chapter 3. That 15-year franchise replaced a 25-year franchise approved in 1986.

There are several major differences between the existing franchise and the new franchise the voters are asked to approve:

• The new franchise is longer, 20 years instead of 15. (Section 301)
• ONG will be required to build temporary sidewalks when the sidewalk needs to be reopened before the permanent sidewalk repair can be completed. (Section 307 C.4.)
• The new franchise fee increases from 3.10% to 4.00% of gross receipts, but the additional 0.90% will be deposited in a "special revenue fund for the maintenance, repair, and improvement of Public Ways, including but not limited to right-of-way and median maintenance and enhancement; streetscaping; landscaping; street and highway lighting maintenance, repair, and replacement; sidewalks; and corridor enhancement and beautification." (Section 312)
• ONG will not be charged "any permit fees, lane closure fees and similar fees or charges for construction, installation, maintenance or restoration work on the Distribution System within the rights-of-way." (Section 312)
• The process and timing of changes to ONG's lines due to city requirements to accommodate other utilities in the right-of-way is set out in greater detail. (Section 308)

The current franchise ordinance, No. 22415, is here. The proposed franchise ordinance, No. 25782, is here. Here is a Draftable comparison of the two, highlighting the differences.