Members of the Oklahoma House of Representatives vote for the speaker in the first legislative session following an election.

The speaker holds a variety of powers as the presiding officer of the Oklahoma House of Representatives.

On the floor of the Oklahoma House of Representatives, the presiding officer is always addressed as "Mister Speaker".

Once conditions are met, the call is filed with the President Pro Tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives who must issue a join order for the convening of the special session.

The Oklahoma House of Representatives formally elects the speaker on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in January in odd-numbered years.

Speaker Dan Draper was convicted of a felony, election fraud, and his office was declared vacant by Governor George Nigh.

Unlike present day speaker elections, there was no candidate with prior service in the House to choose from.

Sworn into office on November 16, 1907, (the day Oklahoma joined the Union) Murray served as the speaker from 1907 to 1909.

However, in the 1920 mid-term elections, the Republicans won control of the House for the first time in state history due to problems faced by Democratic Governor James B.

Following a scandal in the governor's office, Speaker Schwabe led the charge to impeach many state officials.

[1] Governor William H. Murray convinced state senator Tom Anglin to run for the Oklahoma House of Representatives, assuring him that he would be elected as Speaker.

[7] Lansden presided over a special session called by Governor Robert S. Kerr to ensure military men and women could participate in the 1944 elections.

Jim Barker from Muskogee, Oklahoma, holds the current record of four consecutive terms, serving from 1983 to 1989.

In 1989, he was removed from office by a coalition of dissident Democratic members led by Representative Cal Hobson, voting with the Republican caucus.

In this event, the Democratic caucus acting alone selected Representative Steve Lewis as the new speaker over Hobson.

Had the Democratic caucus retained the majority, Jari Askins could have become the first female Speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives.

In 2008, Speaker Cargill resigned when he failed to properly address questions about his filing income and property taxes late and a campaign fundraising ethics investigation.