New OK GOP Chairperson and Chair of OK Federation of Republican Women, Pam Pollard
NewsOK.com is reporting today, “after a flap involving extra cast ballots, the Oklahoma Republican Party named Pam Pollard as its new chairman after she received 163 votes at the Oklahoma Republican Party State Committee meeting Sunday afternoon.
“Estela Hernandez, the interim chairman, received 115 votes, while Robert Hubbard came in with 77 votes.”
NewsOk.com reports the total number of votes came to 355, but there were only 339 credentialed voters on site. An additional 16 votes were cast, a discrepancy of about 4.7 percent of the total expected votes.
Estela Hernandez, Vice Chairman OK GOP
After the results were announced, Hernandez advanced a motion to make Pollard the party chairman. The motion was seconded, and put to a vote. Only a handful of party members opposed.
“I think what we’ve witnessed here today is the best of what the Republican Party is,” Pollard said, accepting the position.
“I think I’m the right leader at the right time,” she had said before votes were cast.
The vote was needed because former state Sen. Randy Brogdon stepped down at the beginning of September as party chairman. Brogdon, a tea party favorite, held the position for five months.