Oklahomans who are supporting open state primary elections are a step closer to beginning a petition drive. If the petition is ruled sufficient, it would be on the General Election ballot in November of 2026.
Last week, the State Supreme Court voted to give that drive the go ahead. All supporters are waiting on now is when the Secretary of State says it can begin.
Once the drive starts, petitioners will have 90 days to gather nearly 173,000 signatures from valid Oklahoma voters.
If SQ 836 were to become law, Oklahoma voters would be able to vote for any candidate they like in the primaries and the top two vote-getters, regardless of party affiliation, would face one another in the general election.
The primary opposition to this effort and others similar to it has come from members of the Republican Party. On the other hand, Democrats have favored the initiative process.
Democrats have favored this initiative process and several years ago opened up their primaries allowing Independents to vote in them.
Those supporting closed primaries believe members of their own party should be able to select their own nominee. Those favoring open primaries seem to contend those against them can be more extreme candidates who have little incentive to compromise.
Open primaries, supporters say, favor candidates who represent a wider swath of Oklahomans.
What we support is allowing Oklahomans to decide SQ 836. We’d like to see the state question make the General Election ballot in November of 2026 just as other initiatives been given the opportunity to be decided by voters throughout the state.
We think allowing a statewide vote on issues such as this is good. Most really important issues, pointing to those involving taxes as an example, usually are on General Election ballots.
While we believe all Oklahoma voters should be allowed to vote on SQ 836, we don’t necessarily think they should approve it. That’s up to them.
We think that a question this important should be on a ballot for all to consider.