OKLAHOMA CITY – Republican Oklahoma legislators have launched an all-out assault against citizen initiatives, but their counterparts in other states also have introduced measures to nullify the will of the people.
More than two dozen measures intended to suppress Oklahomans’ right of initiative have been filed in the Legislature this year.
A similar effort was made last year in House Joint Resolution 1027.
Under existing law, an initiative or referendum petition proposing a constitutional amendment or other change in state law must bear the signatures of a specific percentage of registered voters living in the state.
HJR 1027 would have required backers of an initiative petition proposing a legislative measure to secure signatures from 8% of the legal voters in each of Oklahoma’s five congressional districts, based upon the total number of votes cast for the Office of Governor in the last general election.
If proposing a constitutional amendment, an initiative petition would have to be signed by 15% of the legal voters in each congressional district in Oklahoma, based upon the total number of votes cast for the Office of Governor in the most recent general election.
A referendum can be proposed by the Legislature, but also by a petition that would have to contain the signatures of 5% of the legal voters of every congressional district in Oklahoma, based upon the total number of votes cast for the Office of Governor in the last general election.
HJR 1027 passed the House on a split vote, 66-30, and was transmitted to the Senate, where it died in the Rules Committee.
ONEROUS MEASURES FROM OTHER STATES
In 2018, Michigan voters approved ballot initiatives to enact Election Day registration, create an independent redistricting commission to prevent gerrymandering and to legalize recreational marijuana.
One month later the Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed a bill to make it more difficult for state residents to get initiatives on the ballot in the future.
Voters in 19 states passed progressive ballot initiatives in 2018. Arkansas and Missouri raised the minimum wage. Florida restored voting rights to ex-felons. Maryland and Nevada joined Michigan in making it easier to register to vote. Missouri, Colorado, Ohio and Utah voted to curb gerrymandering. Nebraska, Idaho and Utah voted to expand Medicaid. And Missouri and Utah voted to legalize medical marijuana.
But those successes triggered a backlash from state legislatures dominated by Republicans, who filed measures to hobble those initiatives. Among the measures across the nation that were on the ballot in the November 3, 2020, general election:
• Issue 3 in Arkansas, which was referred to the voters by the state legislature, would have shortened the deadline for petitioners to collect signatures and would have made other restrictive changes to the initiative process. Voters rejected it.
• Amendment 4 in Florida would have required any voter-approved constitutional amendment to be approved by the voters at a second general election – in other words, to be approved twice at the ballot box. Voters rejected that idea.
• Constitutional Measure 2 in North Dakota featured the same concept. Measure 2, which was referred to North Dakota voters by the legislature, would have required any citizen-initiated measure that passes to also be approved subsequently by the legislature; if not approved by the legislature, the citizen-initiated measure would have to return to the ballot again for approval by the voters a second time. Voters rejected the proposal, 62% to 38%.