The Hot Seat With Scott Mitchell, KOTV and KWTV, 11/23/24
The Hot Seat: Oklahoma groups hopes to boost voter turnout with primary system reform.
A study by the Election Lab at the University of Florida found that Oklahoma had the lowest voter turnout during the Presidential election.
On Saturday's Hot Seat, News on 6's political analyst Scott Mitchell shares the work a group is doing to turn those voter numbers around in the future.
Changing the Primary System
To address this issue, Mitchell's guest, Pat McFerron, discussed the efforts of the "Yes on 835" group to reform Oklahoma's primary system. McFerron explained, "We're going to get rid of the exclusionary Republican and Democrat primaries and create one ballot. It's basically, it's how every city, town, community in Oklahoma does it."
Increasing Civic Participation
McFerron emphasized the importance of greater civic participation.
"I think if you end up having those debates in the general election where you can invite everybody in to participate, you have a better chance to change actual behavior." He added, "If we make it where we tell people your vote doesn't matter, your vote doesn't count, and they don't participate in that, they're less likely to participate in planning commissions or boards or food banks or any other civic engagement."
Resistance from the "Ruling Class"
However, McFerron acknowledged that the "ruling class" within the Republican party may resist these changes.
"The thing they don't want is the people. And I'm a Republican, I mean, and you know that, but for those watching, I was a state commitment for the Republican Party back in 1986 I was very active in the right to work effort. I've been involved in more than 100 successful legislative campaigns for Republican candidates, gubernatorial, presidential I was the only pollster Trump used in 2016 in the primary nationwide. And so those that are in power don't want to lose it, and they can control what they're doing right now, and it's insular."
The Path Forward
In the coming months, the "Yes on 835" group will be working to gather signatures to get the state question on the ballot.
THE FRONTIER, 11/12/24
One group thinks open primary elections in Oklahoma could boost voter turnout
A group is seeking to boost voter participation in Oklahoma by opening primary elections to all voters, regardless of political party.
State-level races are often decided in Republican primaries in Oklahoma, because there are no Independent or Democratic candidates on the ballot, leaving many voters locked out.
“Voters are showing up with nothing to vote for and all the meaningful decisions are happening in the primary.” said Jeremy Gruber, Senior Vice President at Open Primaries. “That’s why everyone needs a chance to participate.”
The change would come through Oklahoma’s Initiative Petition process. If signature collection goes well, Oklahoma United, the group behind the push here in the Sooner State, hopes to get the measure on the ballot as a State Question in 2026, when Oklahoma will be selecting a new governor.
Independents are the fastest growing voter demographic in the state, according to the Oklahoma State Election Board. There are 481,817 Independent voters registered in the state, a 32.4% increase since 2020. Meanwhile, Democrat voter registration declined by 12.2% during the same period. Republican voter registration has increased 13.1% in Oklahoma since 2020.
Oklahoma currently allows political parties to hold closed primary elections. In recent years, the Oklahoma Democratic Party has allowed independents to vote in primaries, but the Republican and Libertarian parties have continued to hold closed primaries.
Gruber said there are multiple systems of open primaries in use across the country, but the version the group hopes Oklahomans will soon see on a ballot mimics municipal elections most are already familiar with.
“Many of those municipalities across the state, which are arguably some of our more functional forms of government, use a unified primary,” former State Sen. AJ Griffin, who supports open primaries, said.
“Voter participation is a sign of a healthy democracy,” Griffin said. “This isn’t a partisan issue … but it is a way to engage all of the voters in the process and increase civic participation in a state with one of the highest ratings for election integrity in the country.
Gruber said every state that has enacted an open primary system has seen voter turnout increase.
“It’s not hard to understand why,” he said. “You let more voters vote, you get higher voter turnout. It’s basic math.”
Only 64% of Oklahoma voters participated in this year’s 2024 general election.
The Republican mayors of both Oklahoma City and Tulsa favor the switch.
Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt said in September that he hopes a statewide open primary system would wipe out some of Oklahoma’s partisan divide.
“People say ‘Gosh it sure seems like you’re electing mayors that unify people, that seem competent, that are well-liked across the political spectrum,” Holt said. “It’s not magic … every voter gets to see all the candidates, and all the candidates have to face all of the voters.”
Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum told The Tulsa World earlier this year that he now supports open primaries, after he campaigned against them as a city councilor more than a decade ago.
“I think it is important to point out, there is a Republican dominance right now (in Oklahoma), but we have had for a longer period of time in Oklahoma with Democratic dominance, and I think we would have benefited from this under either scenario,” Bynum told the paper.
Griffin said Holt’s political career – he has been elected under a closed primary model to the state Legislature, and an open primary model as Oklahoma City’s mayor – is a prime example of how the system should work.
“When you’re in (an open) system, you are beholden to everybody in your district,” Griffin said. “Which means it’s your responsibility, as it always should be as an elected leader, to meet with, represent and lead everybody.”
OKLAHOMA VOICE, 11/6/24
Oklahoma voter turnout lowest in the nation, drops from previous presidential elections
Despite a record number of Oklahomans voting in the presidential election, turnout dropped
OKLAHOMA CITY — Despite record voter registration and early voting participation, Oklahoma had the lowest turnout rate among eligible voters in the country, one analysis found.
Oklahoma’s turnout rate for the Nov. 5 election was 53%, the lowest in the nation, according to a report from the University of Florida. The report included anyone eligible to vote in the state, including Oklahomans who are not registered.
The state’s 2024 turnout of registered voters was also lower than the past two presidential elections.
Of Oklahoma’s registered voters, about 1.56 million — or 64% — voted in the 2024 presidential election. While nearly 4,000 more votes were cast this year than in 2020, records show the state had about 183,000 more voters on its rolls heading into the Nov. 5 election.
Experts said the drop in turnout can be attributed to a lack of competitive races at the state level, disillusionment of young voters and a lack of motivation to vote.
On social media, the election board reported that the current vote count does not include provisional ballots, which will be counted Friday. Election officials said the lower turnout was due to a higher number of Oklahomans being registered to vote than in previous years.
The Oklahoma State Election Board reported that voter registration exceeded 2.4 million people prior to Election Day, the highest number since the board began tracking the statistic this century. Turnout for the four-day period of in-person early voting was over 293,000 which surpassed a record previously set in 2020 in a three-day voting period.
James Davenport, associate dean for Social Sciences in the Liberal Arts and Sciences division of Rose State College, said low turnout can happen when Oklahomans have no local or state-level competitive races to show up for.
He said Oklahoma’s strong Republican dominance means that both Republican and Democratic voters are less likely to feel a need to show up to vote. The state’s GOP holds a supermajority in both chambers of the Legislature, all statewide elected offices and congressional seats.
“I think the lack of competitiveness, the dominance of one party, and the fact that Oklahoma has a lot of places that are decided in the primaries so you have fewer general election races to begin with is going to depress turnout in these general elections as well,” Davenport said. “I think all of those factors are the largest factors in why you don’t see the kind of turnout that you might see in some of the other states.”
He said when Oklahomans have more high-profile elections that are more competitive such as governor or attorney general on the ballot, more people show up to the polls.
Davenport said the record-setting early voting turnout could be indicative of a demand for opportunities to vote earlier.
Emily Stacey, professor of political science at Rose State College, said the lower turnout was surprising in comparison to the momentum and enthusiasm from the presidential campaigns. She said momentum doesn’t always translate to action at the polls.
“Democrats, particularly the youth, don’t see their vote actually turning into something,” she said. “They don’t know where their vote is going, or it’s not turning into success or a candidate change. And so after a certain point, I think that may get a little disheartening particularly for Democrats of youth in this state.”
Stacey said there is no “magic bullet” to solve low voter turnout in Oklahoma. She said making Election Day a federal holiday or bringing open primaries to Oklahoma could help, but focusing on civic education for youth is crucial.
Oklahoma’s top election official, Paul Ziriax, thanked election board employees, poll workers and law enforcement Wednesday for making the election possible.
“As Oklahoma’s chief election official, I am proud of the Oklahomans who exercised their right to vote in this election,” he said in a statement. “I am deeply grateful for the poll workers, county election officials, and State Election Board employees who worked so hard to make this election possible even with heavy turnout and despite the storms that ravaged parts of our state in the days before the election.”
THE OKLAHOMAN, 11/4/24
Could independents swing Oklahoma election results? More voters say they're independent.
Oklahomans and voters across the United States have increasingly opted to identify as independent.
But one day ahead of a presidential election that could be determined by a razor-thin margin, experts say being independent doesn't equate to being undecided.
Research shows many independents are often loyal to one of the two major political parties. Identifying as independent can be a sign that a voter doesn't agree with all of a party's platforms.
As Oklahomans geared up for this year's election, the state gained more than 130,000 new registered voters from January through October, according to the Oklahoma State Election
Board. The number of registered independents grew by 43,700, a 10% increase that outpaced both Republicans and Democrats. The Republican base added 83,000 voters, up 6.9%, while the number of Democratic voters rose by 6,600, up 1%.
For Oklahoma County, the most populous county in the state, about 42% of its 24,500 newly registered voters identified as independent, 36% as Republican and 21% as Democrat.
Overall, independents make up about 20% of all registered voters in the state. In comparison, independents made up about 15% of the electorate in 2016 and 16% in 2020.
Independent voters in Oklahoma don't want to be tied to one side or another, said Margaret Kobos, the founder of Oklahoma United for Progress, an organization seeking to reform the state’s primary election system.
"They want to float in the middle, and they want to have all the choices in front of them, and they don't understand why they cannot have that," Kobos said. "They're unwilling to participate in a system that is a black-and-white, zero-sum game.”
Why are so many Oklahomans registering as independent?
Independents continue to make up the largest political bloc in the United States, according to Gallop, with 43% of adults identifying as such in 2023.
Independents often don't feel represented by the Republican or Democratic parties as those parties have adopted more extreme platforms, said Andy Moore, the founder and chief executive of Let's Fix This, a nonpartisan nonprofit in Oklahoma City that promotes civic engagement. Still, most independents will ultimately choose a partisan candidate on the ballot, Moore added.
“Voters feel very frustrated by the limited choices they have at the ballot, and so they've got to pick one of the candidates," Moore said. "If they don't like them, they've got to pick one. Often, they will pick the candidate they think is maybe closest to them to their values.”
Many independents are actually stealth partisans, meaning that although they identify as independent, they are usually loyal to one party, said Tyler Johnson, a political science professor at the University of Oklahoma.
“They say they're independent, but on Election Day, they vote entirely Democrat or entirely Republican," Johnson said. "They lean in one direction. They're just not willing to say they're a Democrat or Republican.”
A 2019 study from the Pew Research Center found that 81% of independents lean toward either the Republican Party or the Democratic Party.
Independents who lean toward a party generally agree with those who affiliate with the same party, according to the Pew Research Center. For example, while Republican-leaning independents might be less supportive of Donald Trump than people who identify as Republicans, according to the study, 70% of them still approved of his job performance during his first two years in office.
Overall, independents are less politically engaged than registered Republicans or Democrats, according to the study, and that is even more true among independents who are truly nonpartisan.
Should independents be able to vote in party primaries?
Kobos attributes the lack of political engagement to the inability of independents to vote in party primaries in Oklahoma. The Sooner State has a closed primary system.
Democrats have opened their primaries to independents, while Republicans and Libertarians have not. Primary elections not only drive the choices that voters see in November, but also voter participation, Kobos said.
“We have a lot of moderate, majority type candidates who want to reach these independent voters, but we don't really have a mechanism to allow them to do that," Kobos said.
Open primaries could also draw in more moderate candidates that stray from partisan messages, Johnson said, which he said is partly why open primaries are not popular in states such as Oklahoma where the GOP has control.
“Closed primaries lead to polarizing options on Election Day, and Republicans in this state want nominees who are conservative, who clearly fit the brand, and that's the case in a lot of places where Republicans have power and have closed primaries," Johnson said. "They want someone who they feel they can trust to move the ball forward on any number of issues they care about, and they want those people who they nominate to fight for conservative priorities and conservative perspectives.”
Kobos said she believes open primaries would be an immediate way to increase civic engagement in a state with one of the lowest voter turnout rates in the nation.
“We’re all exhausted with the status quo," Kobos said. "It’s really important for everyone to understand that we created this system, and we can fix this.”
TULSA WORLD, 10/30/24
Oklahoma’s voting system ‘just doesn’t work,' pollsters says
Oklahomans don't vote.
It's a fact that academics, civic leaders and political insiders have observed, bemoaned and exploited for decades.
As Jeremy Gruber of the nonprofit Open Primaries observed during this week's Oklahoma Academy for State Goals annual town hall, fewer and fewer Oklahomans — and Americans in general — are electing larger and larger shares of state and federal representative bodies.
"In the last (2022) general election, ... 7% of Americans elected 90% of the U.S. House of Representatives," Gruber said. "All across America ... states are suffering from legislatures that are being elected by smaller and smaller groups of voters."
Gruber was one of more than 20 speakers and panelists for this year's town hall in Tulsa. At the core of the discussions was how to make Oklahoma's political system more responsive to the people of the state — and how to engage the people of the state more in the system.
For years and probably decades, Oklahoma's voter participation has ranked among the lowest in the United States — and the U.S. ranks toward the bottom of representative democracies.
There seem to be two fundamental reasons, interlocking in some ways, for that.
Some Oklahomans don't vote by choice.
Some don't because they have no choice.
Only 32 of Oklahoma's 101 state representatives will be chosen in Tuesday's general election. The other 69 were decided on filing day or in closed or semi-closed primaries, meaning some to all of the 40,000 people living in each of those districts had no say in choosing a representative.
Among the 32 House seats on Tuesday ballots scattered around the state, most are considered uncompetitive and thus offer little incentive for participation.
The same is more or less true of the state Senate.
"I don't think our current system is sustainable," said longtime Oklahoma City pollster and strategist Pat McFerron. "It's not working. Our November election (participation) is 50th in the nation, and it's easy to see why. Our November elections don't matter.
"The reality is, a state senator represents 80,000 residents. If you can get 2,500 votes in your primary, you're probably going to win. That's 3%. … Our current system just doesn't work."
McFerron was part of a six-member Monday afternoon panel discussion that dealt primarily with changing Oklahoma's primary system to something closer to the way Tulsa and Oklahoma City elect mayors and city councilors.
The most likely scenario is an initiative petition to eliminate traditional party primaries in favor of a single ballot listing all candidates. Unlike Tulsa's and Oklahoma City's nonpartisan elections, the consensus seems to be that for state elections candidates' party affiliations would be listed.
If no candidate received a majority in the first round of elections — which is sometimes called a primary and sometimes a general election — a second round would be held between the top two finishers, regardless of party.
Oklahoma's current system involves primaries closed to all but members of the state's three recognized parties: Republican, Democrat and Libertarian, except that Democrats allow independents to vote in their primaries.
This contributes to the situation described by Gruber and McFerron and bars large shares of citizens from participating in taxpayer funded elections. It is also argued that it is a factor in the polarization of the major parties.
Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt said polarization is largely a myth fed by the electoral system.
"Sure, that 15% on the left (extreme), the 15% on the right, they're polarized, but there's 70% of us in the middle who just want to work together to get things done," he said.
Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum, speaking Sunday night, made much the same argument and noted that while he and his friend Holt have won elections by wide margins as moderate Republicans in the state's two largest cities, their political careers are generally considered over.
Not mentioned was the fate of former Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett, a popular moderate Republican who could not get through the 2018 GOP gubernatorial primary.
Monday's panel discussion consisted mostly of Holt ardently arguing for the switch and former state Sen. Mike Mazzei and Oklahoma City attorney Andy Lester adamantly opposing it, with McFerron offering data in support of change and Oklahoma Libertarian Party Chairman Chris Powell somewhere in the middle.
Lester, a Republican, said he didn't want anyone except Republicans choosing Republican candidates, while Mazzei argued that moderate leadership is not necessarily the best leadership.
"The reason there aren't a lot of competitive primaries is the people of Oklahoma have shifted their political thinking to the ideas that are generally espoused by conservative Republicans," said Mazzei. "The Reason Foundation is a public policy think tank, and they report that, according to the Center for Government Studies, that more than one-third of political campaigns now from open primary scenarios are seeing two candidates from the same party squaring off."
Tulsa Republicans are upset because that happened in this year's Tulsa mayoral election. Although the election is nonpartisan, both of the two finalists, Karen Keith and Monroe Nichols, currently hold other offices as Democrats.
That argument, in turn, led to questions about whether elections should serve the best interests of the parties or the will of the people.
Under the current system, a party with 52% of registered voters has more than 80% of the representation in the Oklahoma Legislature and 100% of the state's congressional delegation.
The Oklahoma Academy town hall continued through Wednesday, when a list of recommendations was drawn up for submission to legislators.
Started by Henry Bellmon in 1967 following his first term as governor, the Oklahoma Academy for State Goals is a centrist, nonpartisan organization whose stated purpose is identifying practical solutions that advance the state and its people.
Randy Krehbiel, Tulsa World
Read the Tulsa World story here.
THE OKLAHOMAN, 9/25/24
Who are Oklahoma’s deleted voters? State provides data breaking it down by party.
Hundreds of thousands of Oklahomans whose voter registration was deleted in recent years roughly reflect the overall layout of party affiliation in the state, though Democrats and independents were overrepresented among voters deleted for inactivity ...
... It’s no surprise that Democrats and independents show greater inactivity than Republicans in Oklahoma, said Pat McFerron, a conservative campaign consultant and polling expert.
The vast majority of consequential partisan elections in Oklahoma are decided in Republican primaries, well before Democrats and independents get the chance to weigh in, McFerron said.
Very few General Election races in the state are competitive enough to be decided by 10% or less of the vote.
When pollsters like McFerron call inactive voters, many say they’re unlikely to vote because they’re not interested in government and politics, he said, and the other common response is “they just don’t think their vote matters.”
Only the Democratic Party in Oklahoma has opened its primary elections to independent voters. The state’s Republican and Libertarian parties have not.
Implementing open or unified primaries could help engage more people, McFerron said. These concepts would allow registered voters to participate in primary elections regardless of their party affiliation, and it could make every candidate accountable to every voter.
A campaign to bring open or unified elections to Oklahoma is underway. McFerron said he is working with the initiative.
“Oklahoma is now 50th in the nation in voter turnout for November elections, and if we don’t do something to change it, we’re going to continue to have less and less civic engagement,” McFerron said.
MORE NEWS
9/22/24
9/22/24
9/22/24
"The phrase open primaries means way infinite number of things, right? And there are, in a sense, infinite variations on an electoral system.
What I always say when I observe Oklahoma City's effectiveness over the last, you know, quarter century and more. And people always look at Oklahoma City and Tulsa and they say, sure, whatever successes or failures you have, guys, it sure seems like you're electing mayors that unify people that seem competent, that are well-liked across the political spectrum." - Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt
Watch OKC Mayor David Holt on Flashpoint as he discusses unified primaries and how they can bring Oklahomans together.
9/6/24
9/22/24
9/22/24
"Chad we’re 50th in voter turnout in this country. Part of it is the fact that our voters are expected to go to the polls a lot and very frequently when they go. It doesn't matter. Yeah. Yeah.
I mean, you just talked about why we don't have general elections in November. It's already decided in the primary in so many of the districts. Um why in a runoff, the voter turnout is so poor. It's, they've just voted and now they're coming back to vote again in the same, basically the same election. So one of the goals is to increase voter participation by allowing the voters that fund elections to participate in the election." - AJ Griffin
Listen to this lively discussion and learn more about unified primaries in the process.
8/30/24
9/22/24
8/30/24
OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma’s voting system is leading to low turnout rates, the election of more extreme candidates and disenfranchisement of voters who are excluded from participating in primary elections, experts said.
That’s prompting conversations about whether reforms are needed to increase voter participation rates and how the state can ensure hundreds of thousands of independent voters have a voice at the ballot box at a time when most outcomes are determined months ahead of November’s general election.
Read the Oklahoma Voice article here.
8/11/24
8/11/24
8/30/24
TULSA - Corey Jones, Lee Enterprises
Organizers of a grassroots efforts to open
Oklahoma’s primary elections to all voters say they’ve settled on which form the revised primaries should take and aim to have a ballot question ready for the gubernatorial general election in November 2026.
In a recent Tulsa World interview, Oklahoma United leaders said they’re drafting language for a citizen petition to amend the state constitution to have a “top-two, unified ballot with partisan labels.” It would eliminate partisan primaries and allow each registered voter to cast a ballot for any candidate in primary elections.
In other words, every candidate in a race would be on the same primary ballot. Next to each candidate’s name would be whether they are registered as a Republican, Democrat, independent or Libertarian.
Every registered voter — regardless of party affiliation or lack thereof — would be allowed to cast a ballot for the candidate of their choice. And then the top two vote-getters in each race would face off in the general election. If only two candidates file for a race, then both would forgo the primary and be placed on the general ballot in November.
Read the Tulsa World story here.
3/27/24
8/11/24
3/27/24
Process to open up Oklahoma's primary elections underway
KOCO 5 Oklahoma City - A push is underway in Oklahoma to get rid of Republican and Democratic primaries and open them up to every voter.
The fate of the state's primaries could be in the hands of voters. Supporters of opening up Oklahoma's primaries said they want to do this through a ballot initiative question.
"Open primaries connect voters to government," said Margaret Kobos, the founder of Oklahoma United. "All politicians are going to be more interested in what we all think."
Democratic primaries are currently open to Independent voters, while Republican and Libertarian primaries are only open to members of their party.
3/21/24
8/11/24
3/27/24
.OKLAHOMA CITY – Oklahomans may get a chance to change the election process by ending closed primaries.
Oklahoma supporters of open primaries are working on an initiative petition to let voters decide whether or not a massive change is needed.
Margaret Kobos is CEO and founder of Oklahoma United, founded in 2021 to bring common sense solutions that engage the electorate and create better connections between government and the people.
“The version we find most popular is truly an open primary with a single primary ballot,” Kobos said. “All candidates would be on it.”
Party identification would still be listed, she said. The primary runoff would be eliminated, she said.
The top two vote-getters would advance to the general election, she said.
“It puts the emphasis in an election on the candidates and the issues,” Kobos said.
“It also makes the elected officials accountable to all voters, not just the voters in their own party.”
2/9/24
1/21/24
1/21/24
Editorial: Update Oklahoma election laws to give voters freedom to make more candidate choices
Oklahoma’s bottom ranking in voter turnout is likely the consequence of the state’s woefully outdated and exclusionary election laws. It’s time Oklahoma voters demand a better marketplace for ideas and the freedom to make choices.
In 2022, nearly 900,000 Oklahoma voters were shut out of voting in contested races, according to a national analysis by the Lee Enterprises Public Service Journalism team. About 58% (31 of 53) of those contested state and federal races were decided outright in primaries that were closed to all but party members.
It doesn’t have to be that way. The majority of states have some form of open primaries and have much more engaged civic involvement as a result. Oklahoma has examples within the state showing how open ballots encourage better public discourse.
For example, the Tulsa mayor and city councilors are elected on nonpartisan, open ballots. Campaigns are focused on selling as many voters on their ideas as possible. Candidates knock on more doors, public forums cater to all constituents, and every eligible Tulsa voter has the freedom to choose who they feel has the best pitch.
The ballot is simple: All candidates are put on a list. The top two winners go to a general election, unless one gets more than 50% of the vote. For decades, the result has been a diverse council with a range of perspectives and backgrounds, and mayors who seek a consensus among city leaders and residents.
Tulsa has thrived under this election system. Oklahoma would benefit by doing something similar.
Moving to open primaries is about freedom and choice. Political parties still play a role, and some states put the party designation next to candidates’ names on ballots. The reform would be updating the system to involve all voters in deciding on government representatives.
This isn’t a radical idea. But pushback will come from political party leaders and sitting elected officials fearful of losing power or influence. If a party’s candidates have the best vision and plans for an office, then voters will respond — that’s the free market approach.
However, incumbents got elected because this current system works for them, even if it’s not working for all Oklahoma voters. They won’t support a change.
That leaves the initiative petition route, which can be onerous and expensive. It’s also the mechanism used often in Oklahoma when lawmakers ignore the will of the people.
The biggest threat to the American form of democracy is voter apathy, not fraud. Instead of wringing hands over whether to watermark mailed ballots or require more identification, remove obstacles preventing voters from casting a ballot.
Give voters the freedom to consider all candidates and all ideas. That’s the truest form of a representative republic.
1/21/24
1/21/24
1/21/24
Group works to change Oklahoma to open primary system
NewsOn6, Tulsa - Election season is well underway in several states and Oklahoma primary elections are coming up in March. Here in Oklahoma, we have partially closed primaries. Two election experts, Jeremy Gruber with Open Primaries and Margaret Kobos with Oklahoma United, joined News on 6 to discuss the push for open primary elections and what that would mean for voters.
Oklahoma’s partially closed primary means that the democratic party allows people registered as independent to vote in their elections, but the republican party only allows people registered as republican.
“Oklahoma is one of only 14 states that have closed primaries, which means independent voters can't vote in primary elections,” Gruber said. “Around the country, independents are the largest group of voters now in the country. Just this week, Gallup came out with their polling that found 43 percent of voters are independent and that's happening right here in Oklahoma. Twenty percent of Oklahoma voters are independent. It's the fastest growing group of voters in the state. They can't vote in primary elections, the elections that matter.”
Oklahoma United is a non-partisan organization that is working to change our partially closed primaries to open primaries.
“We're seeking reforms and answers to a system that is not serving everybody[...] The first thing that you look at when you research this are the is the exclusion of independent voters in the primary system,” Kobos said “We want all voters to have the freedom to vote for the person they want. The person in their minds is the best person for the job, regardless of where they come from. And we want all independents to be able to vote equally as a party member. You shouldn't have to be forced to join a party in order to exercise your constitutional right to vote in elections that you're funding.”
For more information on Oklahoma’s partially closed election and why groups like Oklahoma United are pushing to change it. Watch the full interview.
1/25/24
1/21/24
1/25/24
Closed primaries shut out millions of voters, divide Americans into "Warring Camps"
Two poll workers unintentionally rattled David Bohlken two decades ago when he walked into a petite country church near Tulsa to vote for his first time as an Oklahoman.
They wouldn’t offer him a ballot. Only a cup of coffee.
“The ballot got flipped upside down on me. I wasn’t even allowed to look at it,” Bohlken said, noting that the two apologetic poll volunteers — his friends — were just doing their jobs. “That kind of made me feel bad.”
Bohlken grew up in Minnesota, a state with open primaries, where all registered voters may participate in any party’s primary election. He didn’t realize his status as a registered independent in Oklahoma would exclude him from partisan primaries.
Millions of voters in states like Oklahoma with primaries that are at least partially closed are shut out from voting in contested races because of their independent status or party affiliation, denying participation in elections their tax dollars fund.
In some cases, those primaries decide who wins the seat outright.
Across nine closed or partially closed primary states, about two in five registered voters in districts with contested U.S. Congressional primary elections in the 2022 midterms were barred from casting ballots in those races, according to a Lee Enterprises Public Service Journalism team analysis of publicly available data.
The 2024 election season has officially begun and voters are heading out to the polls and casting their votes for who they think deserves the party's nomination in primary elections. But in states with closed primaries, voters find themselves not being able to vote for the candidate they want, or be excluded from voting entirely.
Similarly, about two in five registered voters throughout those nine states in districts with contested state legislative primaries in 2022 were prohibited from participation.
In 181 of those 590 contested federal and state primaries, disallowed voters were entirely blocked from a choice in who represents them because the primaries decided who won the office — either directly or with an uncontested general election, according to Lee Enterprises’ analysis.
That’s almost one in three districts where the excluded voters had no say in their representation.
Jeremy Gruber, a lawyer and senior vice president of Open Primaries, a national advocacy group, frames the issue in stark terms.
“There's a country where when you vote in the general election, half the time there's only one person on the ballot. Almost every time it's an uncompetitive election, and half the voters in the country are barred from the first round or limited,” Gruber said. “And even the voters that can participate are segregated into warring camps. People would say, ‘Well, that doesn't make sense. That doesn't sound democratic.’
“‘Where is that? What strange country has that system?’ But that's us. That's our system.”
Gruber is part of a burgeoning movement across the U.S. to open up primaries so all registered voters can participate.
As the 2024 election season begins, there are already about a dozen active campaigns in states across the U.S., including Oklahoma, Arizona, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Oregon, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico and Idaho.
Proponents who are pushing for changes — through citizen-led ballot initiatives, state law changes or even lawsuits — say open primaries strengthen American democracy by allowing all registered voters equal access to taxpayer-funded elections while broadening voter choice and improving outcomes through competition.
1/20/24
11/21/23
1/25/24
Independents are Oklahoma's fastest growing voter block. What does that mean for Republicans?
Unaffiliated voters are the fastest-growing large voting block in Oklahoma, according to the latest statistics released by the Oklahoma State Election Board.
Nearly one of every five Oklahoma voters registered as an independent. Four years ago, independents made up just 15% of voters — now it's just shy of 19%.
Since the last presidential election, the number of people who refused to pick a party has risen 31% with the addition of more than 100,000 independent registrations.
How do Oklahoma voters compare to national trends?
It's a trend seen across the United States, particularly with young voters. National polling and Oklahoma-specific data indicate they are more politically disengaged than older generations, but also might be less polarized. A survey of more than 4,000 young adults showed 61% don’t align with either major political party.
Independents aren't the only voting block seeing record numbers, though. The third-largest party in the state, the Libertarian Party of Oklahoma, has nearly doubled in size to 21,910 registered voters since 2020.
"It's an indication that even in Oklahoma, as Republican-dominated a state as we are, there's a growing dissatisfaction with both parties," said political scientist James Davenport.
Republican stronghold remains in Oklahoma
Despite that, he said, there's no indication that Republican dominance over state government is under threat. The GOP saw smaller but still impressive growth since 2020, and now makes up over 50% of voters.
Democrats continued to see plummeting registration numbers over the past four years, losing more than 85,000 voters. The once-powerful Oklahoma Democratic Party now has just 28.4% of the voter share, down from 35.3% in 2020.
Democrats enjoyed decades of local political dominance; between statehood and 1973, four out of five state legislators in Oklahoma were Democrats. The party was the major political force largely because of its appeal to rural voters, especially in the southeast, a region dubbed "Little Dixie" because of political and cultural ties to the Southern United States.
Those conservative rural strongholds now register with the Republican Party. Today, it's hard for a Democrat to win outside of an urban area.
"It's an amazing reversal from decades long gone, in which those numbers were completely flipped for Republicans and Democrats," said Davenport, an associate dean and professor at Rose State College. "Democrats, I think, have a challenge, and there's obviously going to be some kind of threshold where they will fall below. And the question is, what are they going to do to start increasing that?"
Can independents vote in primaries in Oklahoma?
Seven years ago, the Oklahoma Democratic Party agreed to let independents vote in Democratic primaries. So far, they are the only party to schedule open primary elections and recently announced that the practice will continue through 2025.
There is a growing movement in Oklahoma to mandate open primaries as a way to counter partisan extremism in government. A group of influential local and state officials recently met to discuss how Oklahoma could restructure the way politicians are elected and hope to present voters with an initiative petition within a few years.
The number of registered voters of any affiliation grew over 10% since 2020, according to the state Election Board. As of Jan. 15, there were 2.3 million registered voters, up from 2.1 million in 2020.
If you'd like to vote or change your voter registration, you can now complete forms at the state Election Board's website. Oklahoma became the 41st state to adopt online voter registration last year, allowing eligible U.S. citizens with a state driver’s license or state-issued ID card to complete the entire process online.
11/21/23
11/21/23
11/21/23
Should changes be made to Oklahoma's primary system?
KOCO 5 heard from Oklahoma United for Progress and got a reaction from Oklahoma's Republican Party. Watch here.
OKUnited News July-September 2023
9/17/23
9/17/23
9/17/23
Opinion: I'm a 17-year old Oklahoma student and my peers don't see the point in voting.
If you’ve ever looked at the headlines and thought to yourself, “What the heck is going on?” you’re not alone. I’m right there with you.
Have you thought, said or heard the phrase: “My vote doesn’t matter.” I hear this phrase from all sides of the political spectrum.
Republicans feel as if their votes don’t matter because the current primary system heavily favors their party, so there’s really no reason to participate. Democrats feel as though their votes have no weight at all due to their lack of representation in state government. Independents and Libertarians often share the same sentiment because they have few or no choices.
My friends and I want to be hopeful for our state’s future, but we all feel completely powerless and like no one values us.
I’m 17 years old and a senior at Oologah-Talala. Many of my peers accept that their votes don’t make a difference.
7/23/23
9/17/23
9/17/23
COLUMN: Do closed primaries hurt the process?
Oklahoma recently made a significant change to its voting registration process. You can now register to vote online. (It’s important to point out this is only online registration, not online voting.) It took eight years for implementation, after approval by the state Legislature, while the state updated its driver’s license and ID information databases to make the system work.
Now, one group is looking to reform the state’s primary elections.
When our family moved to Oklahoma in the ‘70s, my mother told me several years later she had to switch her voter registration from Republican to Democrat. Few, if any, GOP-registered candidates ran for state or local office in those days so, with Oklahoma’s closed primary system, she was effectively walled out of voting in most races. Today the script has flipped and its Democrats who are frequently denied the chance to vote.
7/21/23
9/17/23
7/21/23
New group seeks changes in Oklahoma closed primary system
Dick Pryor: This is Capitol Insider - taking you inside politics, policy and government in Oklahoma. I'm Dick Pryor with Quorum Call publisher Shawn Ashley. For more than 30 years, Oklahoma's election system has been considered one of the most secure and most reliable in the United States. The process has changed from time to time, but the way Oklahoma runs elections and counts votes is a model for the nation. One aspect of the electoral process, though, is drawing new attention. Oklahoma's closed primary system. A new group is pushing for change and its leader is our guest. Margaret Kobos is founder and CEO of Oklahoma United. Margaret, thanks for joining us.
Margaret Kobos: Thank you so much for your interest.
Shawn Ashley: Margaret, what does your group see as the problem with Oklahoma's closed primaries?
Margaret Kobos: I could just get so revved up on this, but the bottom line is we are all seeing and feeling a gulf between policies and elected officials, including those who are honestly and sincerely trying to do their jobs to represent us and the people. And it's demonstrated in a lot of different ways.
7/16/23
7/16/23
7/21/23
Okla.'s primaries leave out voters
Oklahoma's Senate District 4, a region of tree-covered foothills that hugs the state's eastern border, is represented by Tom Woods, a feed store owner and rancher elected last year after advancing past a Republican primary and winning the party's runoff election.
The runoff win assured Woods the open Senate seat as no Democrat, Libertarian or independent candidate filed for the race, making a general election in November unnecessary.
The lack of non-Republican candidates also meant the district's 21,000 voters not registered as Republican - nearly half of the district's electorate - had no say in their next state senator.
7/14/23
7/16/23
7/14/23
Editorial: Election reforms in open primaries, no straight-party option to calm the rhetoric
Tulsa and Oklahoma City municipal elections have proven something: When every voter gets the same ballot, candidates representing the broadest consensus of a community emerge. That’s a good outcome.
When citizens feel they have a choice in their representation, they tend to vote more often and enter public life. Civic engagement goes up, and elected officials are more responsive to constituents.
Oklahoma faces a crisis in democracy. Since 2008, the state ranks in the bottom 10 in voter turnout for presidential races, including next to last in 2020. In the November election, 76% of Oklahoma voters younger than 30 did not vote.
7/12/23
7/16/23
7/14/23
Margaret Kobos, CEO and founder of Oklahoma United, is pushing for open primaries in the state.
Open primaries allow all voters to participate regardless of party affiliation. In Oklahoma, state law only allows parties to permit registered members to participate, along with independent voters if they so choose.
Only the state Democratic Party has its primaries available to independent voters.
According to Oklahoma Republican Party Chairman Nathan Dahm, he doesn't want Democrats taking their ideas and inserting them into the Republican primary process.
7/12/23
7/12/23
7/12/23
Push for open primaries: Oklahoma United's fight to increase voter participation and choice
There's a few different types of elections: presidential, gubernatorial, even special.
But the start to any election is typically the primaries, the first look at the candidates.
In Oklahoma, there's two options to vote in the primary: registered Republicans or registered Democrats. You have to choose one or the other, or you can't vote.
Margaret Kobos, the CEO and Founder of Oklahoma United, has a problem with that.
"Oklahoma is last in the country in eligible voter participation and it has been for many years," Kobos said.
OKUnited News February-March 2023
2/7/23
Oklahoma lawmakers propose changes to citizen-led petitions
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. (KFOR) — In a Senate Judiciary committee meeting Tuesday, lawmakers voted affirmatively for Senate Bill 518, pertaining to the state’s initiative petition process. If passed, the measure could additional requirements for citizen initiative petitions to reach a ballot.
Margaret Kobos, founder of OKUnited expressed concerns over SB 518 stating: “We’re just hearing a lot of people don’t feel like their voices matter. And when you have a Senate committee that is trying to dampen the voices of people, I just think you’re confirming their beliefs. And they will stay home and they won’t be engaged."
3/2/23
Oklahomans feel unheard due to the closed primary system
TULSA, OK (KOTV) — An Oklahoma group advocating for open primary elections hosted a burger night at McNellie's. Oklahoma United for Progress says 94% of Oklahoma elections are decided in the primary, and that's because Oklahoma primaries are closed.
OKUnited News 2022
10/12/22
Advocating for open primaries at both the statewide and national levels
TULSA, Okla. (Studio Blue at Public Radio Tulsa) — Question: How do closed primaries weaken our democracy? Answer: They produce elected officials who are more accountable to their party than their constituents, they restrict participation while also reinforcing division, and they exclude independent voters (who are the largest, fastest-growing sector of the US electorate).
9/28/22
Episode 18: We are out there for all Oklahomans!
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. (Sunday Morning Magazine with Martha Steele) — This week we have an extended conversation with representatives from two different organizations.
Margaret Kobos, founder and CEO of Oklahoma United for Progress
and Julie Knutson, CEO of The Oklahoma Academy and John Harper, board member of The Oklahoma Academy
9/18/22
Editorial: Election reforms could aid Oklahoma's suffering democracy
TULSA, Okla. (Tulsa World) —
It’s bad for Oklahoma that nearly 70% of the legislative races have already been decided. Several reasons have led to this lopsided representation, and most are solvable.
The state had the 10th lowest voter turnout in the 2018 midterm election and the nation’s lowest in the 2020 election.
Studies show that legislators running unopposed are less engaged with their constituents. Also, citizens are more likely to become alienated from processes that don’t provide choices.
Oklahoma’s closed primaries shuts out hundreds of thousands of voters, and straight-party voting gives power to political parties over candidates.
8/23/22
'Unmute Oklahoma' Campaign Works to Open Primaries To All Voters
TULSA, Okla. (News on 6) — Oklahoma is a closed primary state. That means in order to vote in a Republican runoff election, you must be a registered Republican.
One group is hoping to change that in an effort to get more voters to the polls.
8/20/22
Group Seeks to Allow Independents to Vote in Any Oklahoma Primary
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. (The Oklahoman) — Margaret Kobos, founder of Oklahoma United for Progress, began the UnmuteOK campaign in an effort to promote potential legislation for an open primary system. To gain momentum, Kobos is trying to receive at least 5,000 signatures on an informal petition for future lobbying.
“You don't take tax money from a person and then exclude them from the public benefit — and that’s what we see happening with closed primaries,” Kobos said.
6/25/22
Finding Less Extreme Candidates
Tulsa, Okla. (Tulsa World) — With the primary election on Tuesday, it’s become clear Oklahoma’s mostly closed system produces more extreme candidates, particularly among the dominant Republican Party. Conservative candidates seek to out-conservative each other to the fringes to win the taxpayer-funded primary. This edges out candidates interested in more broad-based governing, prevents honest political discourse and focuses on divisive cultural issues. This system puts power in parties, not people. We are encouraged by the efforts of Unmute Oklahoma, which has an online petition to build support for changing the state primaries.
6/17/22
'Unmute Oklahoma' Creates Petition To Repeal Closed Primaries In The State
Tulsa, Okla. (KOTV) — The Oklahoma primary election is coming up on June 28th, and one organization is fighting for open primaries. Currently, Oklahoma has closed primaries, meaning people can only vote within their registered party. Those registered as "Independent" can only vote if one of the parties allows it. "Unmute Oklahoma" has created a petition to repeal closed primaries in Oklahoma. Click Here for more information or to sign the petition.
6/16/22
Fact Check: Group claims OK had lowest 2020 general election turnout in nation
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. (KOKH) — Did Oklahoma have the lowest eligible voter participation of any state in the November 2020 general election? That's what the group Oklahoma United for Progress is saying. But is it true? It turns out — according to data from the Pew Research Center — that the organization's claim is correct.
6/16/22
Unmute Oklahoma is a newly launched campaign aiming to repeal closed primaries in our state
TULSA, Okla. (Public Radio Tulsa) — Did you know that Democratic primaries in Oklahoma allow Independent voters to participate, but Republican primaries DON'T allow Independents to do so? And did you know that only about 55% of eligible voters in Oklahoma actually voted in the November 2020 election...and that this is the lowest voter-participation percentage nationwide? Our conversation on ST is about how to get more voters voting in the Sooner State, and our guest is Margaret Kobos, the founder of Oklahoma United for Progress. This organization is today (Thursday the 16th; here in Tulsa) launching a statewide campaign -- "a sort of road show," as Kobos puts it -- aimed at both generating awareness and gathering petition signatures in order to repeal closed primaries in Oklahoma. You can learn more about this campaign, and can sign the online petition, at unmuteok.org.
6/16/22
6/16/22
Should primaries be open to Independents?
TULSA, Okla. (KTUL) — "We want to improve voter participation in Oklahoma," said Margaret Kobos of Oklahoma United for Progress. When she saw the data on voter turnout in Oklahoma, she was not happy. "When we saw that Oklahoma is last in eligible voter participation every single cycle in the country, always last," she said. So to try to change that she's about to launch a campaign to open up primaries to Independents.
Join us in Shawnee Monday, January 27!
Come learn how open primaries can strengthen our democracy and make elections fairer for all.