A private contractor recently sank a grassroots effort to overhaul how Oklahoma selects candidates for office thanks to a change in state law that allows signatures to be tossed on technicalities.
That a business and not even election officials ended the quest to open our state’s party primaries makes for a compelling and concerning story all on its own.But consider this: State Question 836, which the Oklahoma secretary of state said fell short of the needed signatures to make it onto a statewide ballot, could be one of the last times voters here have a legitimate opportunity to exercise their constitutional right to even consider a ballot initiative.That’s because Republican lawmakers continue their crusade to curtail everyday Oklahomans’ ability to participate in the democratic process.After all, Republican leaders haven’t been shy in voicing their opposition to this measure, and it was probably alarming to them that it fell only 31,000 signatures short of qualifying for a ballot.This state question proposed creating an open primary system where all candidates, regardless of political affiliation, would appear on the same ballot. The top two vote-getters would advance even if they were members of the same party.Given that this nearly made the ballot, a man who knows I’m a journalist asked me whether lawmakers might take steps to further water down Oklahomans’ rights to place citizen-initiated ballot measures before voters. And if, or when, our courts would have the courage to say enough is enough.While lawmakers much to their frustration haven’t figured out a way to outright strip Oklahomans of their long-held constitutional right to put things on the ballot, they’ve been on a laser-focused quest to water down those rights since voters began approving progressive initiatives over the past decade. Think expanding Medicaid and making medical marijuana legal, against the wishes of the GOP leaders of the Legislature.Beginning around 2020, lawmakers have made it much more difficult to qualify legitimate signatures collected by using a random third-party contractor that claims it created an “innovative and automated process” that “searches voter records and matches signatures with registered voters,” highlighting discrepancies.
The company brags on its website that it “spearheaded legislation” in Oklahoma that “will modernize the age-old, archaic petition system.” It says their process will eliminate “many of the issues associated with the initiative process.”Instead of three data points as the law previously required, now 4 of 5 voter data points legal first name, legal last name, zip code, house number and day and month of birth must align for a voter’s signature to be counted. Of the signatures collected for SQ836, 57,841 were disqualified for failing the data point check, NPR-affiliate KOSU reported.I don’t know about you, but my signature never seems to look the same twice, and I never seem to have good luck with automated processes. I sure hope someone manually verified this result because if the first state question to undergo this new screening process failed, it doesn’t bode well for those yet to come.And let’s not forget, there’s also another terrible law aimed at further crippling citizen-led ballot measures looming large over future efforts.This one weakens voters’ voices by limiting how many signatures can be collected by county, essentially capping the number that can come from the state’s most populous areas. It also prohibits paying people based on the number of signatures they collect, requires the disclosure of who is paying circulators and bars out-of-state interests from donating to support these citizen-led initiatives.
The Supreme Court stopped the law from applying to State Question 836 while a legal challenge over its constitutionality plays out. This may be the last ballot question we see before these ridiculous and seemingly unlawful parameters take effect.It’s always been really difficult for grassroots measures to make the ballot, but now we’re getting our first taste of just how much more challenging lawmakers have made it.And adding insult to injury, Republican House lawmakers this session decided to try to circumvent the open primary state question by passing their own competing plan to overhaul those elections. House Republicans want every party to have the opportunity to choose a candidate for every general election. Their plan would directly have conflicted with State Question 836, and had both become law, it would have created a legal mess.Don’t forget, lawmakers have made it really easy to place their own measures on the ballot. They only need a majority of members in each chamber to agree, while everyday Oklahomans face expensive and timely campaigns to collect hundreds of thousands of signatures from registered voters.With lawmakers hellbent on stripping voters of their voice and what little influence they do have, is it any wonder that a group of Oklahomans felt compelled to overhaul our primary election system?
The fact that this got so close to making the ballot and our continually dismal election participation numbers should signal to state leaders that something is not working and people are fed up and feel disenfranchised.When a supporter of State Question 836 was explaining to me early on what they were proposing, I asked why not pursue a system similar to Texas’. The way that state operates its primary election system seems like it would be much more palatable to Oklahomans. Texas voters don’t register by party. Instead, under its open primary system, they choose which party primary they want to participate in. Voters can only pick one party, and then they must stick with that choice throughout the primary election cycle.Like in Oklahoma, the candidate that receives over 50% of votes moves on to the general election. And to ease the worries of Oklahoma’s dominant party: It hasn’t harmed Republican prospects in Texas, as they hold top government posts and both U.S. Senate seats.It’s clearly working for Texas voters too. In its primary election earlier this month, nearly 25% voters or about 4.5 million — weighed in, the Texas Tribune reported. Primary turnout in 2018 and 2022 has hovered around 17%.
Oklahoma’s primary isn’t until June. But looking at our most recent statewide primary elections in 2024, only 237,333 voters cast ballots in the top Republican contest, according to the state Election Board. To put that into perspective there were over 2.3 million registered voters. That means turnout was only 10%.I fear this year’s primary turnout is going to be abysmal given that independents, which now total close to 491,000, are for the first time in years barred from participating in all partisan contests because no party is allowing them to vote.Adding insult to injury, now lawmakers want to make it more difficult to even register to vote. Currently, if someone forgets to select a party designation, they’re automatically registered as independent. But under a bill working its way through the Legislature, their application would be thrown out if they don’t choose a designation.Legislators should not be disenfranchising any group of voters, particularly on a technicality.I hope it begins to dawn on lawmakers that State Question 836 may just be the beginning of the rise of resistance. Because if they continue on this current path of destruction, I don’t think it will be long before their constituents will have had enough of being sidelined and silenced. Picture a scenario where voters move to strip legislators of much of their power.Should that day come, it will be interesting to see how lawmakers like a taste of their own medicine. Being regulated and relegated to the political sidelines.
