Moore curbside recycling fails amid low voter turnout

Last Updated on August 6, 2023, 3:02 AM | Published: May 17, 2023

MOORE (Oklahoma) — Moore residents voted against a curbside recycling proposal by a 55%-45% margin on Tuesday, May 9. 

Out of the 34,274 registered voters in Moore, only 3,380 turned out to vote. While 1,530 voted for the proposition, 1,850 voted against it. It failed by 320 votes.

The 10% voter turnout is low, but isn’t strange for the city, Mayor Glen Lewis said. 

It’s “about normal” for most non-council member or mayoral elections in the city according to Lewis. “People don’t often come out without a council member on the ballot.”

2016 voter turnout much bigger

A similar curbside proposal was on 2016’s general election ballot and saw a much higher turnout with the same result. 

In that election, 10,589 voted for the proposition, while 10,918 voted against it. It failed by 329 votes.

Over 60% of registered voters in Moore voted on the measure.

Mayor and city opinions 

I spoke with Council member Danielle Mckenzie of Ward 1 about the failure of curbside recycling since she vocally supported the City passing the measure without putting it on an election ballot.

She said that the proposal failing was “disappointing,” especially considering the low voter turnout and higher expectations set in the previous council meetings. 

Most residents who came to the public hearing in January were in support of the proposal, and council members had said repeatedly that they received mostly supportive emails on the issue.

When asked about some Councilmembers’ preference to simply pass the measure instead of rolling it out to voters, Mayor Lewis said “I agree with [them] about having the City pass it.” 

The Mayor does see the value in holding an election, even if it doesn’t go the way some in the City may have liked. 

“That’s only fair, that the voters get to vote on it. It’s the Democratic way,” said Lewis.

---