A petition effort to change Oklahoma’s primary system fell short of the required signature threshold to make it to a future ballot, the Oklahoma Secretary of State’s Office announced Thursday.
Organizers for State Question 836 turned in more than 200,000 signatures to the Secretary of State’s Office, but it’s unclear how many of the signatures were able to be verified. To make the ballot, at least 172,993 valid signatures were required.
SQ 836 would have allowed every registered voter, regardless of political affiliation, to cast a vote in all contested state and county elections. The campaign to gather signatures launched in November 2024. Currently, Oklahomans must vote by party in primary elections. The effort survived a court challenge in September when the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled that the language in the initiative petition was legally sufficient.
Tony Stobbe, who gathered petitions in favor of SQ 836, said he started working on the project because he said the current system is unfair.
“Too many voters feel hopeless and disenfranchised by our current election system,” Stobbe said in a statement. “Over 500 volunteers collected signatures in winter storms and through the holidays because they believe all Oklahomans deserve a fair primary system that attracts more candidates to run for office, increases voter participation and strengthens accountability. Their work has already produced a statewide recognition that our primary election system is broken.”
Several current and former elected officials endorsed SQ 836 in one form or another. Former Sen. A.J. Griffin (R-Guthrie) backed SQ 836, and she said in a statement that while not successful, it raised awareness.
“I view this citizen petition as a great success already: opening the eyes of many thousands of voters about how our election system has brought us disappointing results, and why we have to change it if we want to make the most of our statewide resources and talent,” Griffin said. “This conversation has made a big impact, and the issue will be made even more real when our closed June primary elections come.”
Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt also supported SQ 836, appearing at a signature drive in January.
Others celebrated its failure. Former House Speaker Charles McCall (R-Atoka), who is running for governor in a crowded GOP field, went so far as to take partial credit for its failure in a press release titled, “McCall petition reforms stop California-style power grab as State Question 836 fails.”
In the statement, he said the effort was the work of outside interest groups.
“I’m glad to see State Question 836 fall short,” McCall said. “This was a California-style power grab, plain and simple. Outside activists tried to rewrite Oklahoma’s election system and weaken the voice of conservative voters.”
The press release credited McCall’s 2020 legislation that authorized the Oklahoma Secretary of State’s Office to partner with a third-party verification vendor to digitally review signatures against the state’s voter registration database.
“Because of the laws we passed, every signature had to meet the standard and every rule had to be followed,” McCall said.
While SQ 836 didn’t meet the signature threshold, State Question 832 will appear on Oklahoma’s June 16 ballot. If approved by voters, it would raise the state’s minimum wage to $15 by 2029. The current minimum wage in Oklahoma is $7.25. The state’s current minimum wage is $7.25. The legislature is also considering a state question to roll back medicaid expansion.
Oklahoma’s Legislature is also considering several more state questions that could appear on later ballots, including one that would roll back Medicare expansion.
