22nd November 2024
Red state or Blue, it’s clear Americans are unsettled politically, many expressing some variation of “government isn’t working for me” or “my vote doesn’t count” – or both.
In Illinois, California and Oregon, for example, reliably red rural voters are fed up with blue-dominated urban centers controlling public policy. So, they want a divorce. Literally.
The Land of Lincoln would split into two states – Chicago and Cook County would make up Illinois, every other county would be “New Illinois.” California would be comprised of Los Angeles, the Bay Area and Sacramento; everyone else would reside in “New California.”
And the Beaver State? Much of eastern Oregon would peel away and become part of “Greater Idaho.”
As the Wall Street Journal was reporting this quixotic movement, a bipartisan group in red state Oklahoma launched an initiative petition drive that takes a different approach to solving the political upheaval: open primaries.
Oklahoma United’s State Question 835, if it reaches the 2026 ballot, would have all candidates, regardless of party, appear on the same June primary ballot. The top two vote-getters – again, regardless of party – would then appear on the November general election
ballot.
What would it accomplish?
First, it would give all registered voters the opportunity to pass judgment on all candidates – whether Republican, Democrat, Libertarian or independent.
Currently, nearly half of the state’s registered voters – 48% – are shut out of primaries controlled by the state’s dominant party, the GOP, which only allows registered Republicans to participate.
The low turnout primaries tend to be dominated by the hardest core party activists who then help nominate the most extreme candidates … who get elected anyway because an “R” behind a candidate’s name is all far too many straight party voters need to know.
Second, opening up the nominating primaries would – at least in theory – encourage serious candidates to appeal to a broader constituency, not just the major party’s extremes. That could help serve as a moderating influence on Oklahoma’s increasingly strident, rightwing politics – a wet blanket on economic development efforts.
As former Republican Sen. A.J. Griffin put it, “People have lost trust and confidence in our government,” pointing to Oklahoma’s lowest-in-thenation turnout of age-eligible voters in
the Nov. 5 general election. “That is not a problem that can be ignored.”
Open primaries would be a seismic change in Oklahoma election processes – and it’s not without its detractors in both major parties who’ve controlled their primaries since statehood.
Republicans are especially wary, of course, given they own legislative supermajorities and hold all statewide and federal offices – not unlike Democratic control for most of the 20th
century. But the fact Democrats once were in a similar position ought to give the GOP pause.
The pendulum swings in politics. And it often does so because of hubris.
Example: When Democrats began losing their stranglehold, their leaders ignored warnings that straight-ticket voting could become their Achilles’ heel. Why change, they reasoned, when they were dominating under the current rules. Today, though, Republicannominees for statewide office begin almost every general election campaign with a double-digit advantage thanks to straight-ticket voters.
The GOP and its supporters like the system the way it is. They don’t want more voters. Indeed, they’ve taken legislative action to make voting more difficult. And they’ve gerrymandered legislative districts to cement their statehouse supermajorities.
The result? This year, nearly 70% of legislative races were decided before the November general election. Further, Oklahoma’s age-eligible turnout was the nation’s lowest this year, according to the University of Florida’s Election Lab.
Power doesn’t give up power willingly. Once again, it’s up to the voters to reign power in.
Arnold Hamilton is editor of The Oklahoma Observer; okobserver.org