They’re Rigging the Rules. Here’s What You Need to Know.

Oklahoma lawmakers are at it again. This time, the strategy is as simple as it is cynical: move major state questions to the August 25 primary runoff, the election with the lowest voter turnout of the cycle.

As Oklahoma Voice reported early last week, legislative leaders are pushing to place issues that have already been decided by voters on a ballot they know most Oklahomans won’t show up for. The targets? Medicaid expansion — which voters enshrined in the state Constitution in 2020 — and the Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust, a fund Oklahomans created to protect public health.

The House passed HB 4440, which would strip Medicaid expansion from the Constitution and reduce it to statute, making it far easier to gut. The House also approved an amended version of House Joint Resolution 1076, which did not go through the committee process. It asks voters to revisit the structure and revenue of the Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust. Something voters have rejected multiple times. The Senate passed SJR 47 to put a voter ID amendment on the same August ballot, another issue voters already decided for themselves. In all three cases, lawmakers chose the lowest-turnout election available.

This is not an accident. It’s a strategy. Fewer voters means a better chance of overriding what Oklahomans have already decided.

And this isn’t new. Every session since 2020, the Legislature has found another way to chip away at the people’s power — from tightening signature verification and adding petition restrictions to imposing county signature caps and handing veto authority to the Secretary of State on Oklahoma’s beloved initiative petition process. This Land and a broad coalition of allies have been fighting back at every turn, including suing to overturn SB 1027 in 2025. That case is still pending before the Oklahoma Supreme Court.

Now, for the first time in recent history, state questions could appear on a runoff ballot. That should alarm every Oklahoman who believes their vote matters.

Today, a Senate committee will consider some of these measures. If they pass committee, they move on to the full Senate floor — bringing them one step closer to becoming reality.

The good news? People are paying attention. News outlets across the state — including Oklahoma Voice and Oklahoma Watch — have reported on this strategy for what it is: a sneaky trick to override the will of voters by burying major decisions in a low-turnout election. The more Oklahomans who see through it, the harder it becomes to pull off.

This is about who holds power in Oklahoma — the people, or the politicians who keep finding new ways to silence us.

Contact your lawmakers today. Tell them that Oklahomans have already decided these issues at the ballot box — and to stop taking power away from voters. Find your legislators at oklegislature.gov. Share this post. Talk to your neighbors. The political pressure is working — now we need to keep it up.

Read the full Oklahoma Voice report here. Read the Oklahoma Watch report here.