10th December 2024
By Robert Lee, Tahlequah Press
Anyone who reads the TDP on a regular basis – or any news outlet, for that matter – knows Oklahoma comes in at the bottom of the nation in voter turnout.
According to the Oklahoman: “During the Nov. 5 general election, about 64% of Oklahoma’s electorate participated, down from 69% in 2020 and 68% in 2016. A report from
the University of Florida found just 53.4% of Oklahomans who met the age and citizenship
requirements to vote ultimately cast ballots this year, ranking the state dead last in voter
turnout.”
It’s an abysmal number that is, frankly, embarrassing. I submit for your consideration
that it is due to the perceived – and for many of us, confirmed – notion that it makes no difference whether an individual votes. That notion has been buttressed by the very system
that is supposedly there to encourage us to vote, when year after year, the same people get
reelected and the incumbent, with name recognition, is usually reelected.
One only has to look at the numbers to know that a very small minority of voters actually selects, and then elects, the candidates we get to choose from. While there are a lot of Republican voters, most do not cast ballots in primaries. That is how some of the state Republican leaders like it, and they want it to stay that way.
According to Lt. Gov. Pinnell: “Oklahoma is a conservative state, and Republicans
hold all the statewide and federally elected positions and super majorities in the
Legislature for a simple reason: Our values and principles represent the will of our state
voters.” That kind of statement smacks of hubris and perhaps a little fear – fear that
what they say may not be true.
Our “state voters” are a small percent of the total population when you note that most elections are resolved at the primary level. Yet from statements like that, one might
conclude we have an election system that invites all citizens to have their voices heard and
votes counted at the ballot box. Not so. Not all Republicans hold that view. Mayors
G.T. Bynum of Tulsa and David Holt of Oklahoma City are both Republicans who do run
in open elections and support the open primary process.
Mayor Holt had this to say: “You’re appealing, especially today, to a narrower and
narrower slice of the electorate. I often say that neither in Oklahoma City, nor in the
country, are people actually all that polarized. Maybe the extremes are – 15% at both ends. But there’s a 70% of people in the middle that just want to work together and get things done.”
State Question 835 would enable us to hear from the 70% in the middle and get things
done. As was reported in the Tulsa World: “Elections in America are for the people, not political parties, and a citizen’s petition effort would bring that principle back to Oklahoma ballots.”
It went on to say, “It’s simple: Anyone who wants to run for state office would put their name forward with their political designation, and every eligible voter would select from the ballot of all candidates. The top two winners would move to a general election.”
Yes, imagine, if you will, an election in Oklahoma that is driven by policy debates, not
party affiliation. Imagine all of us being able to go into the voting booth and voting for the person who actually does reflect Oklahomans’ values. If what Lt. Gov. Pinnell suggests
is true, then he would be proved correct. Disenfranchising a majority of Okies does not prove his point. S.Q. 835 would go a long way toward fixing that. Let’s support that.
Robert Lee is a retired social worker with interests in history and politics. He lives in Tahlequah.