Barry Christian’s death remains under investigation, but the late candidate still drew 6.5% of the vote after his name remained on the ballot under Oklahoma election law.
ALTUS — More than six weeks after Republican State Senate candidate Barry Christian was found dead in western Oklahoma under circumstances that remain under investigation, 530 voters still cast ballots for him in Tuesday’s GOP primary.
The posthumous vote total amounted to 6.5% of all ballots cast in the Senate District 38 race and became one of the more unusual storylines of Oklahoma’s primary election.
Christian, a Sayre drilling consultant and one of three Republican candidates seeking the open Senate seat, disappeared in late April after failing to appear for a scheduled meeting. Authorities later found his body inside his pickup truck in the Sandy Sanders Wildlife Management Area south of Erick. The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation continues to investigate his death.
Because Christian died after the candidate filing period had closed, Oklahoma election law required his name to remain on the ballot.
With all 70 precincts reporting, Rick Vernon won the Republican nomination outright with 4,157 votes, or 50.6%. Joe Buchanan finished second with 3,533 votes, or 43.0%, while Christian received 530 votes.
The results underscore just how consequential Christian’s presence on the ballot became.
Vernon exceeded the 50% threshold required to avoid an August runoff by just 47 votes. Meanwhile, the 530 votes cast for Christian represented enough support to have significantly affected the dynamics of the race had those voters been forced to choose between the remaining candidates.
There is no way to know how those votes might have been distributed in a two-candidate contest.
Both Vernon and Buchanan publicly expressed condolences following Christian’s death in April, describing the loss as a tragedy for his family and the western Oklahoma community.
The Senate District 38 seat is open because Sen. Brent Howard, R-Altus, is term-limited. With no Democrat or independent candidates filed for the race, Vernon’s primary victory secures his election to the Oklahoma Senate.
Still, Tuesday’s election leaves behind a remarkable footnote: Hundreds of western Oklahoma voters cast ballots for a candidate whose sudden death remains unexplained, and those votes nearly reshaped the race that effectively decided who will represent Senate District 38 at the Capitol.
