In a controversial bill advancing through the Oklahoma state Legislature, Republican lawmakers are pushing Senate Bill 1027, a radical proposal that would drastically restrict how citizens can petition their government.
An analysis from Oklahoma Policy Institute shows if passed, the bill would block up to 94% of Oklahoma voters from having their signatures counted on a citizen petition.
SB 1027 would:
Limit who can sign petitions, limit who can register signatures and limit who can fund campaigns to only Oklahoma-registered voters, excluding any outside support.
Cap the number of signatures counted from any one county, disproportionately hurting both rural and urban communities.
Concentrate power in the hands of a single Republican Secretary of State to unilaterally reject petitions.
Republican supporters claim it’s about protecting rural voices. Critics — including Democratic Rep. Mickey Dollens — say it's a thinly veiled attempt to silence Oklahomans and blunt one of the only successful ways to get progressive measures to a vote of the people.
I spoke with Rep. Dollens. “Now, how volunteers go out and complete the necessary required signatures within a limited 90-day-window is a near mathematical impossibility, which is the purpose of this bill,” Dollens told me in an interview for the Black Wall Street Times.
Oklahoma Citizen petition process faces threat from GOP
A report from Oklahoma Policy Institute shows as many as 2.2 million of the 2.3 registered voters in the state, roughly 94%, could lose their constitutionally-protected right to sign a citizen petition.
For instance, of the 222,554 eligible voters in Oklahoma County, home to the state’s largest city, only 25,594 signatures would be eligible to be counted. Meanwhile, in rural Cimarron County, of the 733 eligible voters, only 84 signatures would be considered for counting.
Rep. Dollens tried to push an amendment that would double the window for gathering signatures from 90 days to 180, but he was denied.
“So I think that makes it pretty evident what this is about. It’s not about getting more signatures from rural Oklahoma. This is about silencing the voice of Oklahomans,” Rep. Dollens told me.
He’s urging Oklahomans to use their voice by showing up to the floor votes, contacting lawmakers and expressing visible opposition in public spaces.
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