Oklahoma Legislature Attacks Citizens’ Right To Initiate Ballot Measures, Targeting Urban Voters
New law follows troubling national trend, just weeks after Florida lawmakers passed similar ballot measure restrictions
OKLAHOMA CITY — In an astounding move to undermine the will of the voters, Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt used the cover of Memorial Day weekend to sign into law SB1027, which was passed by the legislature last week. The law includes multiple provisions intentionally designed to frustrate the ballot measure process, from restrictions on the activities of campaign volunteers to undemocratic vote weighting designed to dilute the power of voters in larger, more urban counties.
While the law constructs multiple roadblocks for ballot measure campaigns, its most shocking provision is perhaps its imposition of strict signature limits by county. Under this provision, no more than 10% of signatures required on a petition for a given measure to appear on the ballot may come from counties with over 400,000 people. It also states that no more than 4% may come from smaller counties.
“SB 1027 explicitly diminishes the voices of urban voters. It’s cowardly, antidemocratic, and an insult to the general principles of one person, one vote, that has guided American elections since the civil rights movement. All voters, regardless of ideology or address, should have their voices heard equally,” said Kelly Hall, Executive Director of the Fairness Project, the national leader in ballot measure campaigns.
“The intention behind the needless legal and bureaucratic hurdles that this law places on the qualification process is clear,” Hall stated. “When politicians fail to pass commonsense legislation that aligns with the values of their voters, the voters use the ballot measure process to make change themselves. Here, extremist politicians are undermining the power of their voters rather than representing the will of their constituents.”
In addition to imposing limits on who can collect signatures and donate to ballot measure campaigns, the new law will give state regulators the power to decide how ballot measures are described on petitions while mandating that organizers state a proposed measure’s anticipated fiscal impact. It also gives the secretary of state veto power over the summaries of any proposed measures before petitions can be circulated. In practice, this is another way for politicians to strip citizens of their power to control the initiative process.
The Fairness Project has been calling attention to widespread attacks on the ballot measure process. Since the start of this year, legislators in over 15 states have put forth more than 100 bills attempting to stop voters from having their voices heard at the ballot box or overturn decisions previously decided by voters. Earlier this month, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed HB1205, which severely limits citizens’ ability to collect the signatures necessary to place measures on the ballot while imposing excessive, punitive fines for even unwitting violations.
“We have seen this playbook used before by extremist politicians who want to silence their voters,” continued Hall. “Just weeks ago, we saw the governor of Florida trot out a similar bill to unnecessarily complicate the ballot measure process under the pretext of preventing fraud. What this really is is a national trend by legislators and governors working to make campaigns too expensive and too complex for ordinary citizens to organize and make their voices heard.”
The organization and its allies in Oklahoma had previously defeated an earlier attack on the ballot measure process in the form of House Joint Resolution 1059. That resolution, which was brought forth in 2022, would have required constitutional amendments to receive over 55% of the vote instead of a simple majority. SB 1027 is even more insidious, as it applies to all ballot measure campaigns, not just proposed amendments to the state constitution, and creates obstructions throughout the process.