Call it a Legismander. Or a Referendamander.
Either way, Republicans in the Legislature are trying to force state questions onto a likely GOP-heavy August primary runoff ballot. Some of them are pet projects of outgoing Gov. Kevin Stitt, who is in his second and final term.
Not since the right-to-work battles over union membership at the turn of the century has a legislatively sponsored state question appeared on a non-general election ballot in Oklahoma.
Among the state questions that could appear on an August primary runoff ballot are those that could curtail state matching funds for Medicaid expansion, a state question narrowly approved by voters in 2020. One would slow the rate of growth in property tax assessments. Another would turn a voter identification law into a constitutional amendment.
Unlike a gerrymander, in which lawmakers effectively pick their constituents based on past voting behavior, these state questions would appear on a runoff election ballot dominated by Republican candidates, helping to drive that bloc of voters to the polls. With at least six GOP gubernatorial candidates, it’s widely expected the primary on June 16 will lead to a runoff on Aug. 25. (Candidate filing ends at 5 p.m. Friday.)
Any special election state question ballot would be open to all registered voters. But only voters who declared a party by March 31 can vote in that party’s primary or runoff election in Oklahoma. Voters can’t switch parties from April 1 to Aug. 31 during general election years.
Andy Moore, chief executive officer of civics group Let’s Fix This, said it’s unlikely many Democratic primary races will head to an August runoff. That means fewer voters will be paying attention to an August election. Turnout in runoff elections has hovered between 10% and 12% in recent years.
“Politicians for years have eroded the public’s trust in systems and through gerrymandering, closed primaries and attacks on the initiative petition,” Moore said. “They know they’ve got us on the ropes, and they’re going to cram some stuff down our throats in an election most people aren’t paying attention to. The things they’re running are things voters have already voiced their opinion on, and they’re trying to undo it.”
The Legislature advanced the state questions for the August primary runoff on deadline last week to get bills off the floor and to the opposite chamber. Just a few days later, Stitt and Republican leaders announced a budget deal.
House Speaker Kyle Hilbert, R-Bristow, said the governor had strong feelings about state questions. Stitt called for re-votes on several successful state questions, including Medicaid expansion and medical marijuana, during his State of the State address in February.
“We want to work collaboratively with the governor with the opportunity he has to advocate for measures,” Hilbert said on March 26. “It’s a really fun project for him in his last interim. The legislative session will come to an end in the coming months, but he’ll be able to go out and champion some of these great reforms on the ballot in August and November.”
Streamlined Election Ballot
The drive to cram state questions into a primary runoff election stands in contrast to recent bipartisan efforts to streamline the state’s election calendarand add early voting days. It also comes after successful Republican-led proposals making it harder for citizens to gather signatures to put state questions on the ballot.
State Question 836 for open primaries failed to qualify for the ballot this year after falling short of the required number of signatures. It was the first major state question to come under a new law requiring four out of five data points to verify written signatures. Senate Bill 518, passed in 2024, increased it from three out of five data checks. The bill also extended the time to protest proposals to 20 days, up from 10 days.
House Democratic Leader Cyndi Munson, D-Oklahoma City, said the messaging on ending Medicaid expansion plays to a certain segment of Republican voters. She said Stitt’s top advisors have said publicly they want the most conservative turnout in August’s primary runoff election.
“I do believe there’s a strategy to roll back these programs that Oklahomans voted to put in place,” Munson said. “They are strategically working really hard to undo the will of the people.”
Munson, who is running for governor, said it took almost two years to get a citizen-led state question to raise the state’s minimum wage on the ballot. Voters will determine the fate of SQ 832 on the June 16 primary ballot. The initiative was certified in September 2024, but Stitt chose the June 2026 primary date to put it before voters.
“There seems to be a delay when the initiative petition process is being used by the people, but they expedite it when the Legislature wants to put questions on the ballot,” Munson said.
Oklahoma lawmakers sent more than 50 state questions to a vote of the people in the last 25 years. All but one appeared on a November general election ballot, according to an analysis of records since statehood from the secretary of state’s office. Legislative-sponsored state questions are typically approved in those November elections, with almost 40 of the proposals succeeding.
Voters approved State Question 695 on right-to-work with 54% of the vote on Sept. 25, 2001. Although lawmakers initially approved the legislative referendum in the 2001 session, it didn’t receive the required two-thirds vote in both the House and Senate to call for a special election. That would have put it on the November 2002 general election ballot. Democratic lawmakers, fearing the issue could cloud the 2002 gubernatorial contest, hastily approved follow-up legislation to instead put SQ 695 on a September 2001 special election.
Hilbert said Oklahoma’s constitution is too long, meaning something always needs to be changed or updated. That usually means several state questions appear on the ballot every two-year election cycle.
“In order to make sure we have a well-educated populace as they’re going to the voting booths, I think it’s better to split some of those and have some state questions in August, and some in November, instead of having an incredibly lengthy November ballot with everything on the same ballot, ” Hilbert said Thursday.
Health Care, Taxes and Voting
This year’s state questions expected on the August primary runoff ballot deal with Medicaid, property taxes and voting, all issues that animate many Republican primary voters.
House Joint Resolution 1067 and House Bill 4440 await action in the Senate after passing in an evening floor session on March 25. If passed by voters, HJR 1067 would allow the Legislature to decline to fund the state’s share of Medicaid expansion if the federal match goes below 90%. That trigger law would only apply if voters fail to pass HB 4440.
HB 4440 would take Medicaid expansion out of the state constitution but preserve it as a statutory requirement. That could make it easier for lawmakers to change or eliminate.
Oklahoma voters narrowly approved Medicaid expansion under State Question 802 in June 2020. It expanded Medicaid eligibility for adults aged 18 to 64 in Oklahoma who make less than 138% of the federal poverty level, now pegged at $21,756 per year.
HJR 1087 would ask voters to change the way the state reimburses local governments for the five-year ad valorem exemption incentive program for manufacturing.
The Senate’s property tax change, under SJR 39, would cap homestead property tax growth at 1% per year, down from the current 3% limit for annual growth in assessments. It would cap annual growth for other real property to 3%, down from 5%.
The Senate also sent SJR 47 to the House. It would put an August state question on the ballot for voter identification. It would turn an existing statutory requirement for voter ID into a constitutional amendment.
Voters already approved the voter ID requirement under SQ 746 in November 2010, although it was a statutory change, not a constitutional amendment. The House Rules committee approved SJR 47 on Thursday, and it now heads to the House floor. The proposal still leaves it up to the Legislature to define what a voter ID might include.
Senate Democratic Leader Julia Kirt called the August primary runoff state questions a legislative power grab.
“They’re trying to take power out of the constitution and bring it to the Legislature,” Kirt said Thursday. “It’s interesting that you would put these on the least voter-turnout date. It’s pretty clear that is to take power away from voters.”
A handful of legislative state questions could still appear on the November general election ballot. They include the so-called TSET reset bill that would change which programs benefit from annual interest payments from the state’s tobacco settlement endowment trust.
HJR 1077 would change a portion of future TSET fund earnings earmarked for health care to instead pay for college tuition under an expanded Oklahoma Promise program.
TSET’s $2 billion trust fund had earnings of $140.6 million in fiscal year 2025. That compares to earnings the previous year of $86.8 million. The additional earnings allowed TSET to make one-time legacy grants for health care research and workforce development.
There’s been constant friction between TSET and lawmakers since the fund’s inception in 2000. But voters are leery of making changes; in 2020, they voted down SQ 814. That would have sent 75% of annual earnings toward Medicaid expansion.
Also on November’s ballot could be a state question, HJR 1089, asking voters if they want to convene a state constitutional convention. The House passed it last week and it awaits consideration in the Senate.
Under the state constitution, lawmakers are supposed to ask voters every 20 years if they want to convene a constitutional convention. But the last vote took place in 1970, when voters rejected a convention. They also declined to call conventions under state question votes in 1926 and 1950. Voters in 1994 rejected SQ 660, which would have removed the constitutional convention requirement from the constitution.
This article was originally published by The Frontier. You can see the original story here.