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Tulsa City Council weighs ideas to shorten city election cycle

In 2011, Tulsa voters approved a city charter change to make city elections non-partisan.

That meant a three-tiered system, with a primary, a run-off, and a general election.

The run-off would take place if no two candidates got more than 50 percent of the total number of votes for a particular office.

As it turned out, in the first election cycle under the new system, that didn't happen -- which meant a June primary and then more than 150 days of campaigning before voters finally made their decisions Nov. 12.

That's just too long, many voters say, and candidates agreed.

Now, the City Council says it will take the matter up and may ask voters to change the city charter again to try to tighten up that long election calendar.

Two possible solutions: Either eliminate the run-off, so the two top vote-getters advance to the general regardless of whether they got more than 50 percent of the primary votes, or move the general election up to the run-off date if no run-off is necessary, as happened this year.

The span between the primary and general elections in 2009, the last time the city elected a mayor, was only about two months.

If the council decides to make a change, it will try to get the charter amendment on a ballot by early next year.

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