OFRG: Ballot Access Laws Advance

From Oklahomans For Responsible Government ~ Measures aimed at opening up Oklahoma's ballot access laws passed in the House and Senate this session and Oklahomans for Responsible Government today commended Senator Randy Brogdon (R-Owasso) and Rep. Randy Terrill (R-Moore) for working to get them through the first stages of the process.

“Oklahoma has some of the strictest laws in the country when it comes to allowing citizens putting their own ideas on the ballot,” said OFRG Executive Director Brian Downs. “Giving voters the opportunity to choose their own laws is the purest form of democracy and should be encouraged.”

Brogdon’s Senate Joint Resolution 13 changes the calculation which determines how many signatures are needed to get a referendum or constitutional amendment on the ballot. Right now, it’s based on either the last presidential election or the last gubernatorial election, whichever was most recent. SJR 13 bases it solely on the last gubernatorial election, meaning the number of signatures needed won’t fluctuate every two years.

Terrill’s House Bill 2246 increases the amount of time to gather signatures from 90 days to a year. It also requires that any challenges to the title or gist statement happen early on in the process instead of waiting until the end. A Senate version of the bill, SB 852 also by Sen. Brogdon passed today with similar language as Terrill’s House bill.

“By giving more time to collect signatures, this measure will open up Oklahoma’s process to more than just groups with a lot of resources,” said Downs. “Taking care of legal issues at the beginning of the petition process will also mean that those resources won’t be wasted on a technicality that could have been cleared up earlier.”

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