SB 1027 would exclude millions of registered voters from signing initiative petitions

Cole Allen // April 16, 2025 // Updated: April 22, 2025
OK Policy Articles & Research // //

• Speak out against SB 1027 today by contacting your lawmakers  

Oklahoma’s initiative petition process is an effective and secure way for citizens to serve as a check on our state government and our elected officials. However, Senate Bill 1027 would place arbitrary restrictions on how many signatures could be collected from each county for an initiative petition. SB 1027 would exclude millions of registered voters in Oklahoma from signing initiative petitions.

As currently written, SB 1027 sets a maximum number of signatures that can be collected from each county:

  • For amendments to state statutes, the maximum number of signatures from any one county cannot exceed 11.5% of the total number of votes cast for governor in that county during the most recent general election.
  • For Constitutional amendments, the maximum number of signatures from any one county cannot exceed 20.8% of the total number of votes cast for governor in that county during the most recent general election.

There are more than 2.3 million registered voters in Oklahoma, of which 1.15 million voters cast ballots for governor in the 2022 general election. When applying SB 1027’s formula statewide, its requirement would exclude 2.2 million registered voters (or 94.4% of registered voters) from signing a petition for statutory amendments; it would exclude 2.1 million registered voters (or 89.8% of registered voters) from signing a petition for constitutional amendments.

The framers of the Oklahoma Constitution called the initiative “the first power reserved to the people” in Article 5. The initiative petition process works to both balance and complement the powers of the Legislature and other branches of Oklahoma’s government; it’s a key part of Oklahoma’s democracy, and lawmakers should reject SB 1027’s attempts to make it less accessible to all Oklahomans.

A county-by-county look at how SB 1027 would exclude millions of Oklahoma voters from participating in initiative petition process

(NOTE: Mobile viewers may need to turn their devices to landscape mode to best view this table.)

County Total number of registered voters Total number of votes cast for governor at the last general election SB 1027’s maximum number of signatures for a petition to change state statutes, by county Number of registered voters excluded from signing a petition to change a state statute SB 1027’s maximum number of signatures for a petition to amend the state constitution, by county Number of registered voters who would be excluded from signing a constitutional amendment petition
OKLAHOMA 450,111 222,554 25,594 424,517 46,291 403,820
TULSA 386,498 194,095 22,321 364,177 40,372 346,126
CLEVELAND 176,525 91,279 10,497 166,028 18,986 157,539
CANADIAN 105,606 50,214 5,775 99,831 10,445 95,161
COMANCHE 59,944 23,580 2,712 57,232 4,905 55,039
ROGERS 64,923 33,933 3,902 61,021 7,058 57,865
PAYNE 43,991 22,138 2,546 41,445 4,605 39,386
WAGONER 53,463 26,870 3,090 50,373 5,589 47,874
POTTAWATOMIE 42,318 20,713 2,382 39,936 4,308 38,010
CREEK 44,481 22,350 2,570 41,911 4,649 39,832
MUSKOGEE 37,544 17,796 2,047 35,497 3,702 33,842
GARFIELD 33,434 16,214 1,865 31,569 3,373 30,061
GRADY 35,662 17,825 2,050 33,612 3,708 31,954
WASHINGTON 34,105 17,151 1,972 32,133 3,567 30,538
LOGAN 34,078 17,019 1,957 32,121 3,540 30,538
LEFLORE 29,105 12,141 1,396 27,709 2,525 26,580
CARTER 30,453 13,408 1,542 28,911 2,789 27,664
CHEROKEE 27,517 13,545 1,558 25,959 2,817 24,700
BRYAN 28,639 11,467 1,319 27,320 2,385 26,254
OSAGE 29,237 15,105 1,737 27,500 3,142 26,095
PITTSBURG 26,904 12,691 1,459 25,445 2,640 24,264
KAY 25,567 12,532 1,441 24,126 2,607 22,960
STEPHENS 27,457 13,116 1,508 25,949 2,728 24,729
MCCLAIN 29,429 15,046 1,730 27,699 3,130 26,299
DELAWARE 27,377 13,218 1,520 25,857 2,749 24,628
SEQUOYAH 24,216 10,274 1,182 23,034 2,137 22,079
MAYES 24,933 12,650 1,455 23,478 2,631 22,302
PONTOTOC 22,963 11,205 1,289 21,674 2,331 20,632
OKMULGEE 21,469 10,635 1,223 20,246 2,212 19,257
LINCOLN 21,532 11,098 1,276 20,256 2,308 19,224
MCCURTAIN 17,044 8,248 949 16,095 1,716 15,328
OTTAWA 18,084 7,688 884 17,200 1,599 16,485
CUSTER 15,120 7,492 862 14,258 1,558 13,562
CADDO 14,081 7,062 812 13,269 1,469 12,612
GARVIN 16,046 8,122 934 15,112 1,689 14,357
JACKSON 13,211 5,502 633 12,578 1,144 12,067
SEMINOLE 12,578 5,861 674 11,904 1,219 11,359
BECKHAM 11,519 5,480 630 10,889 1,140 10,379
TEXAS 8,795 3,658 421 8,374 761 8,034
WOODWARD 10,944 5,377 618 10,326 1,118 9,826
ADAIR 11,144 5,222 601 10,543 1,086 10,058
MCINTOSH 12,543 6,476 745 11,798 1,347 11,196
PAWNEE 9,838 5,047 580 9,258 1,050 8,788
MARSHALL 9,874 4,391 505 9,369 913 8,961
KINGFISHER 9,196 4,883 562 8,634 1,016 8,180
CHOCTAW 8,952 4,050 466 8,486 842 8,110
ATOKA 8,085 3,921 451 7,634 816 7,269
CRAIG 8,447 4,485 516 7,931 933 7,514
MURRAY 8,447 4,251 489 7,958 884 7,563
HUGHES 6,974 3,545 408 6,566 737 6,237
HASKELL 6,990 3,392 390 6,600 706 6,284
OKFUSKEE 6,028 2,945 339 5,689 613 5,415
NOBLE 6,861 3,814 439 6,422 793 6,068
WASHITA 6,624 3,575 411 6,213 744 5,880
PUSHMATAHA 6,958 3,297 379 6,579 686 6,272
JOHNSTON 6,066 2,963 341 5,725 616 5,450
LOVE 6,492 2,742 315 6,177 570 5,922
LATIMER 6,032 3,064 352 5,680 637 5,395
NOWATA 6,497 3,323 382 6,115 691 5,806
BLAINE 5,443 2,980 343 5,100 620 4,823
WOODS 4,943 2,702 311 4,632 562 4,381
KIOWA 4,780 2,461 283 4,497 512 4,268
MAJOR 4,583 2,691 309 4,274 560 4,023
TILLMAN 3,894 1,850 213 3,681 385 3,509
ALFALFA 2,960 1,735 200 2,760 361 2,599
COTTON 3,735 1,843 212 3,523 383 3,352
GREER 2,828 1,342 154 2,674 279 2,549
JEFFERSON 3,470 1,613 185 3,285 336 3,134
COAL 3,751 1,908 219 3,532 397 3,354
BEAVER 3,119 1,698 195 2,924 353 2,766
DEWEY 3,001 1,767 203 2,798 368 2,633
GRANT 2,848 1,599 184 2,664 333 2,515
ELLIS 2,502 1,486 171 2,331 309 2,193
ROGER MILLS 2,349 1,320 152 2,197 275 2,074
HARPER 1,898 1,168 134 1,764 243 1,655
HARMON 1,369 650 75 1,294 135 1,234
CIMARRON 1,335 733 84 1,251 152 1,183
TOTALS 2,347,759 1,153,284 132,628 2,215,131 239,883 2,107,876

Percentage of registered voters
excluded from signing petitions

 94.4%   89.8%

Source: OK Policy analysis of Oklahoma Election Board results from November 2022 general election  

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Cole Allen // callen@okpolicy.org

Cole Allen joined OK Policy as a Policy Fellow in August 2022. He graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a master’s degree in International Studies as well as a bachelor’s degree in International Studies with minors in Religious Studies and Middle Eastern Studies. During college, Cole was a research assistant at the Center for U.S.-China Issues and the Center for Cyber Governance and Policy. He also interned for the U.S. Department of State Diplomat in Residence for the Central United States. Cole hopes that his work at OK Policy will help make Oklahoma a more just and equitable state for all its residents. When he is not working, Cole enjoys cooking Italian food, playing Dungeons and Dragons, and following OU athletics.