Unable to win elections in Oklahoma the old-fashioned way, with... you know... votes, liberals are now attempting to change the game by messing with the way Oklahoma elections work.
Under the guise of "increasing voter participation", left-wingers of both parties (including one has-been and one current liberal Republican elected officials) announced an initiative petition today for a state question that would switch Oklahoma to the same sort of "top two" jungle primary system used in California that often cuts Republican candidates completely out of the general election.
Rather than candidates running in Republican, Democratic, or Libertarian primaries, and the party nominees advancing to the general election, this system throws all candidates into a "jungle primary" where only the top two candidates move to a general election.
Below are comments from Lieutenant Governor Matt Pinnell (a former chairman of the Oklahoma Republican Party), Jonathan Small with the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs, and current Oklahoma Republican Party chairman Nathan Dahm - all in opposition to this scheme:
OKLAHOMA CITY (November 19th) — Today, Lieutenant Governor Matt Pinnell issued the following statement in response to Oklahoma United’s press conference regarding open primary elections.
“At best, the push to mandate open primaries is a solution in search of a problem, and at worst, it is a thinly veiled attempt to weaken Republican voters in choosing the nominees to represent our Party.
Oklahoma is a conservative state, and Republicans hold all the statewide and federally elected positions and super majorities in the legislature for a simple reason: our values and principles represent the will of our state’s voters. Every county in Oklahoma voted for Donald Trump in November.
As a former Republican state party chairman and State Party Director at the RNC, I would hope the current primary structure would incentivize independents and conservative Democrats to register as Republicans and help choose our party’s nominees.”
OKLAHOMA CITY (November 19, 2024)—Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs (OCPA) President Jonathan Small today issued a statement regarding the “top 2” primary system being proposed for Oklahoma:
“This effort to swindle Oklahomans into adopting California’s election system is being pushed by people whose bad ideas can’t win at the ballot box otherwise.
“In the days to come, Oklahoma citizens will hear a lot of sob stories trying to con them into believing they are disenfranchised. The truth is that, in the most recent election, more Oklahomans cast ballots for president than ever before in our state’s history.
“No one should be surprised that Kamala Harris supporters announced today they’re working to bring California-style elections to Oklahoma. We look forward to informing Oklahomans about the many dangerous public policies that have resulted from California’s election model.”
The Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs promotes the flourishing of the people of Oklahoma by advancing principles and policies that support free enterprise, limited government, personal responsibility, individual initiative, and strong families.
OKLAHOMA CITY (November 19th) – In a statement released today, Oklahoma Republican Party Chairman Nathan Dahm made clear he stands resolute in protecting our Republican primary elections from open primaries and the “top two” voting system. Today, a rally was held at the Oklahoma History Center by the group Oklahoma United, for their supporters and local media. They announced they had formally filed an initiative petition with the Oklahoma Secretary of State on Monday, November 18th seeking passage of a constitutional amendment by SQ 835, which would force political parties in Oklahoma to allow voters not registered with that party the right to vote in that parties' primary elections. The sole purpose of this effort is to dismantle the Oklahoma Republican Party primary system and dilute the voice of the registered Republican voters in their own Republican primaries.
Dahm further stated, “the Oklahoma Republican Party is committed to opposing this planned attack and protecting our elections. To forcibly say Republicans must allow Democrats or anyone else to vote in Republican primary elections is diametrically opposed to our Constitutional Republic. We have political parties for a reason.”
While we understand Oklahoma has a significant and growing number of Independent voters, that we respect, we simply feel only registered Republican voters should vote in Republican primaries, a reasonable position that only makes sense. Under current law political parties can already allow non-party members to vote in their primary elections if the party chooses, and we have yet to see any indisputable data that supports the narrative that open primaries will increase voter participation.
In my view it's reasonable for voters to be displeased about having state funded and operated primary elections in which they cannot participate. However, the proposal in SQ 835 is not the solution they may think it is.
ReplyDeleteSQ 835 is a California-style Top Two jungle primary and just like our current system it will still be the minority of voters who participate in primaries removing candidates as choices from the majority who vote in general elections. Under the top two aspect it would add the possibility, indeed the likelihood, that the two candidates on the November ballot would be from the same party. California has suffered under this in nearly all statewide elections since adopting Top Two in 2010.
Unfortunately, because of the bad reputation Top Two has earned from it's performance in California and Washington where it's been implemented, supporters won't identify it as such and routinely simple say it's an open primary. A traditional open primary, which is how 16 states including our neighbors in Arkansas and Texas operate, allows any voter to choose the ballot of any party. Calling an jungle primary with top two an open primary is like referring to the Batmobile as a car.
Another bit of rhetorical sleight-of-hand is comparing the jungle primary to the way most municipal elections in Oklahoma are carried out. It is true that all candidates go on the initial ballot in our city elections. However, if a candidate wins 50% in that election, there is no runoff. And most importantly, voters participating in municipal elections see that first round as the the main election and it has the highest turnout. This meets a standard that neither our current system nor the jungle primary put forth in SQ835 offers, it has the most choice on the ballot at the time when the highest number of voters go to the polls.
If we want to provide voters the ability to choose from all the candidates, it should be offered when the most voters will participate. This could be accomplished by eliminating primaries altogether and having all candidates on the general election ballot, maximizing the ability of voters to express their preferences. Then, as is currently done is Louisiana and Georgia, runoffs between the top two could take place as needed to ensure a majority winner. It would also mean the end of primary systems that require enshrining political parties in the law. Political parties, like many other ills, will always be with us but that does not mean they should be granted favored legal status. SQ835 claims to not care about parties but as we have seen in California and Washington Top Two would, among other negative effects, only further entrench the Democrats and Republicans at the expense of the people of Oklahoma.