The persons having the highest number of votes for the office of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction shall be declared duly elected.
However, in case two or more shall have an equal and the highest number of votes for the office of State Superintendent of Public Instruction, the legislature shall, by joint ballot, choose one of the said persons having an equal and the highest number of votes for the office of State Superintendent of Public Instruction.
For the November 2010 general election, Sandy Garrett (the five-time and incumbent Democratic officeholder) chose not to seek re-election for a sixth term.
Susan Paddack, a former secondary school science teacher and member of the Oklahoma Senate,[1] was nominated by the Democratic Party as her potential successor.
The State Superintendent of Public Instruction's four-year term begins on the first Monday in January following the general election, and runs concurrently with that of the Governor of Oklahoma.
Every two years, the State Superintendent must compile, publish, and distribute a book of laws and Attorney General's opinions on schools, and issue annually a statistical report for the governor and legislators on the education department.