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Stubborn Oklahoma lawmakers need to hear from you

Posted by m.gamino on March 9, 2010 | No Responses

Oklahoma’s largest newspaper, The Oklahoman, mentioned Free & Equal in an editorial titled “Access endeavor” on March 6. The daily paper claimed that our support for House Bill 1072 – a measure to ease the state’s third party signature requirement – probably won’t “do much good” because Oklahoma lawmakers are “reluctant” towards reform.

Is The Oklahoman trying to tell us something? Are the Sooner State lawmakers really that stubborn? From what we hear from our friends with Oklahomans for Ballot Access Reform, the answer is “yes.” This is interesting coming from such a proudly conservative state where the people supposedly have a distaste for government intrusion. Isn’t government telling people who they can vote for the highest form of intrusion?

Oklahoma was, in fact, the only state where every county went red for the GOP in the last two presidential elections. And in both of those elections, Oklahoma was the only state that held every third-party challenger off its ballots with its astronomical signature requirement and lack of write-in option.

You might recall that Green Party presidential candidate David Cobb ran a safe-state campaign in 2004 to please the anybody-but-Bush crowd who were concerned about any leftist pull on the Democrats. It’s funny that the safest of the “safe states,” where one party historically wins by a landslide, would keep him off the ballot. Cobb probably would have helped the Republicans in Oklahoma.

What’s more, The Oklahoman says in its editorial that allowing third parties on the ballot won’t cost the state a dime. Again, this sounds like something that should appeal to Oklahoma’s GOP-controlled legislature, but alas, they are still reluctant.

Free & Equal board member Richard Winger wants to know what the Oklahoma lawmakers are so afraid of. He’s right. We should be asking them this question, even though we know the answer. They are afraid of a little competition, which just goes to show that the Democrats and Republicans will always agree on something – keeping third parities out.

OBAR recently put out a news release that included the names and contact information of the conference committee members who will decide the fate of HB 1072 very soon. Free & Equal encourages everyone to contact these members to show support for the bill, but please be courteous and informative. Please don’t send form letters. The committee members are:

House

Senate

Contribute today to our lobbying campaign in Oklahoma. HB 1072 needs all of the help it can get to overcome the stubborn reluctance of the Oklahoma political duopoly.

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Categories: Legislation, Oklahoma