UPDATE -- Embattled Tulsa County Sheriff Stanley Glanz submitted a letter of resignation to Gov. Mary Fallin Thursday. Glanz's short, two-paragraph letter said his resignation would be effective on Nov. 1.
Glanz asked Fallin to call for a special election "to fill the vacancy as soon as possible."
Friday, the governor issued an executive order, setting the primary election for March 1, 2016. The special general election would be April 5, 2016. Filing period for the post, the governor's order indicated, is Dec. 7, 8 and 9.
TULSA -- The Tulsa World newspaper reported Wednesday that Tulsa County Sheriff Stanley Glanz will resign from his office after a grand jury returned two misdemeanor criminal indictments against the sheriff.
"An attorney representing Glanz told a Tulsa World reporter that the sheriff planned to step down, although he didn't specify when. The attorney said a "logical date" would be Nov. 1," the newspaper reported.
Almost six months ago, on April 16, the American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma issued a statement calling for Glanz to resign.
The ACLU of Oklahoma was one of the first organizations in the state to call for Glanz's resignation.
On Wednesday, ACLU of Oklahoma Legal Director Brady Henderson called Glanz's resignation good news for the people of Tulsa.
"Sheriff Glanz's resignation is good news for the people of Tulsa, but long overdue," Henderson said. "Sheriff Glanz blatantly broke the trust placed in him by the citizens of Tulsa County and now faces two indictments as a result. It is unfortunate that he did not have the integrity to resign when we at the ACLU and others first called for it nearly six months ago. The damage Glanz and his cronies have done to Tulsa County is dreadful, and it will take time to repair it. What happened today is only the first step necessary to combat the far-reaching impacts of the office's corruption."