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What’s up this week at Oklahoma Policy Institute? The Weekly Wonk shares our most recent publications and other resources to help you stay informed about Oklahoma. Numbers of the Day and Policy Notes are from our daily news briefing, In The Know. Click here to subscribe to In The Know.
This Week from OK Policy
Oklahomans made their voices heard. The next step belongs to all of us: Voters rejected SQ 845 and SQ 847, preserving existing safeguards for judicial independence and local control. But rejecting these proposals doesn’t mean the underlying problems have disappeared. Oklahomans still need affordable housing, meaningful property tax relief, and courts they can trust. Those priorities deserve attention long after Election Day.
New and returning lawmakers have an opportunity to pursue solutions that address rising costs, protect local decision-making, and strengthen public trust. The next step belongs to all of us. Stay informed, ask questions, and hold elected leaders accountable for delivering solutions that make a meaningful difference.
Make plans to join us on March 10 for OK Policy’s Day of Action at the Oklahoma Capitol, and follow OK Policy for the facts and analysis you need to stay engaged in what happens next.
Oklahoma Policy Institute urges safeguards to protect SoonerCare coverage as state prepares for work requirements: During the Nov. 2 public hearing on proposed SoonerCare (Medicaid) work requirements, the Oklahoma Policy Institute urged the Oklahoma Health Care Authority (OHCA) to prioritize protecting eligible Oklahomans from unnecessary coverage losses as the state prepares to implement new federal requirements. While these requirements are federally mandated, Oklahoma has opportunities to reduce administrative barriers that could cause eligible individuals to lose coverage. [OK Policy]
Policy Matters: The votes are counted. Now the real work begins: To everyone elected to serve Oklahoma this year, congratulations. Whether you won your first race or earned another term, voters have placed their trust in you. Now comes the responsibility of turning campaign promises into meaningful change. [Shiloh Kantz / The Journal Record]
The gap between political rhetoric and policy realities (Capitol Update): We have heard a lot of talk this campaign season about cutting taxes and holding government accountable. The message seems to be that by cutting government waste and spending our tax dollars wisely, we’ll pay less in taxes while producing positive, measurable outcomes. We hear a variation of this message every four years, and we usually fall for it. The results have been a continual race to the bottom, as we’ve seen for the past eight years. [Steve Lewis / Capitol Update]
OK Policy in the News
State Question 847 fails as Oklahoma rejects property tax change: Opponents, like the Oklahoma Policy Institute, warned it would have reduced funding for schools and other local services over time. The nonprofit told The Oklahoman the measure would not provide meaningful relief to those who need it most. [The Oklahoman]
- Election Results: Oklahomans reject State Question 847 [KOCO]
- Oklahoma SQ 847 fails, keeping current caps on property value increases [News 9]
Oklahoma SQ 845 fails, keeping judicial nominating rules, AP projects: Oklahoma’s State Question 845, asking voters to approve changes to the state’s Judicial Nominating Committee, failed. Reaction, results from midterm elections here. [News on 6]
- State questions: Changes to judicial nominations, property tax cap fail to earn voter approval [Tulsa World]
Weekly What’s That
Oklahoma citizens have the right to initiate statewide legislation via ballot measures, or State Questions, as either statutory or constitutional amendments.
After an initiative petition is drafted, it goes through a lengthy process which can include various legal challenges. To qualify for the ballot, a citizen-initiated statutory amendment requires signatures of registered voters equal to 8 percent of the votes cast at the last general election for the Office of Governor (currently 92,262 signatures based on the 2022 gubernatorial election), while a constitutional amendment requires 15 percent (currently 172,993 signatures). Citizens also have the power to repeal legislation via veto referendum. Once a petition has been determined to have a sufficient number of signatures and meets all other requirements, the Governor has the authority to call a special election to decide the petition or to place it on the ballot at the time of the next primary or general election.
Between 1989 and 2014, only 12 initiative petitions qualified for the ballot; of these, five passed and seven failed.
Between 2014 and 2024, nine initiative petitions qualified for the ballot, including three on the 2016 ballot: SQ 779, raising the sales tax to fund education, failed, while two criminal justice reform measures — SQ 780 and SQ 781 — passed. In 2018, two initiative petitions made it on the ballot: SQ 788, legalizing medical marijuana passed in June, while SQ 793, allowing for optometrists and opticians to practice in retail stores, was defeated in November. In June 2020, voters opted to expand Medicaid coverage for low-income adults by approving SQ 802, while an initiative petition aimed at prohibiting a convicted person’s former felony convictions from being used to calculate future punishments (SQ 805) was defeated in November 2020. An initiative petition to allow recreational use marijuana, SQ 820, gathered sufficient signatures but failed to meet the deadline to appear on the November 2022 ballot; Gov. Stitt called a special election to decide SQ 820 for March 7, 2023, where it was soundly defeated.
SQ 832 (raising the minimum wage) qualified for the ballot in September 2024 but not in time to appear on the November 2024 ballot; Governor Stitt sett a June 2026 election date for the issue. A petition drive to reform Oklahoma’s primary election system (State Question 836) began in October 2025.
An initiative petition (SQ 787) was launched in 2016 to lengthen the time period to gather signatures for initiative petitions from 90 days to one year, but it failed to gather enough signatures to qualify for the ballot. In 2024 and 2025, legislators passed several bills that will make it harder for initiative petitions to qualify for the ballot. SB 518 (2024) raised the filing fee and added more stringent requirements for matching signatures to voter registration records. HB 1105 (2024) extended the period when challengers can file protests from two weeks to 90 days. SB 1027 (2025) imposed several new requirements on signature gathering, including capping the number of signatures that can be collected from voters in each county. SB 1027 was under legal challenge as of November 2025,
Look up more key terms to understand Oklahoma politics and government here.
Quote of the Week
“I encourage every incoming elected official to take this time to study the issues, listen to Oklahomans, work across differences, and deliver solutions that improve everyday life. That’s what public service should be about. And that’s the standard every Oklahoman deserves.”
– OK Policy Executive Director Shiloh Kantz, reflecting on why our civic obligations and the responsibilities of elected officials extend well beyond Election Day. [The Journal Record]
Op-Ed of the Week
Opinion: Court asks: How could so many petition signers get it wrong?
Every teacher knows that when a big percentage of their class fails a test, it’s not kids’ fault.
Something was wrong with the process.
And even the Oklahoma Supreme Court seems to think there’s something not quite right when nearly 60,000 Oklahomans apparently weren’t able to properly fill out and sign a petition to put a state question on the ballot.
Vice Chief Justice Dana Kuehn referred to the number as “implausible,” and the justices had a lot of questions for the attorneys representing Secretary of State Benjamin Lepak’s office at a hearing on Monday, Nov. 2.
The hearing was on State Question 836, a proposal to make a big change in the state’s primary election process that has been strongly opposed by Oklahoma’s dominant Republican Party.
Numbers of the Week
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18.8% – Percentage of outside money in Oklahoma’s six federal races (one U.S. Senate and all five Congressional seats) during the 2026 election cycle, as of late October 2026. Outside money is considered to be political spending by groups and individuals acting independently of candidates and campaigns, including super PACs, dark money nonprofits, and other outside groups not subject to contribution limits. Overall, candidates in Oklahoma’s six federal races brought in $22.9 million, while outside groups spent $4.3 million. Nearly 9 in 10 outside dollars were spent supporting Republican candidates; the Oklahoma House District 5, currently held by Rep. Stephanie Bice, was the only race to receive outside money supporting a Democrat candidate. [Open Secrets]
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5.3 million – The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the 2025 reconciliation law will increase the number of people who are uninsured in 2034 by 10 million. Coverage losses from Medicaid work requirements account for over half, or 5.3 million, of the increase in the number of uninsured. [KFF]
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36.8% – The unofficial Nov. 3 election turnout rate for voting-eligible Oklahomans, which includes people legally eligible to vote but not registered. In Tuesday’s election, about 1.12 million Oklahomans cast ballots in the governor’s race, while there are an estimated 3.03 million voter-eligible people in Oklahoma. The Nov. 3 turnout was the state’s third-lowest midterm rate since 2002, behind 2006 (36.4%) and 2014 (30%). [Election Lab]
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77.5% – Percentage of Oklahoma Legislature seats held by Republicans in the upcoming session, while 53.1% of registered voters are Republicans. Democrats make up 25.6% of registered voters and will have 34 members (26 in the House; 8 in the Senate). Independents are 20.4% of voters, but no incoming lawmakers are registered as independents. [Oklahoma Election Board Voter Registration Statistics, November 2026 ] | [The Frontier]
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75.5% – Percent of the 10,468 people held in Oklahoma jails awaiting trial, meaning they have not been convicted of the charges for which they are being detained. Many remain behind bars simply because they cannot afford bail or the fees associated with securing their release. Nationally, 69% of people held in local jails are awaiting trial. [R Street Institute] | [Prison Policy Initiative]
What We’re Reading
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Big Changes to Makeup of the Biggest Midterm Donors: Since Citizens United, the composition of the top 40 donors in the midterms has shifted dramatically: more money, more support for Republicans, less transparency, and new industries like crypto surging while older sectors like labor disappear. [Brennan Center for Justice]
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Survey Offers Early Look at States’ Differing Approaches to Implementing Medicaid Work Requirements Amid Cost and Time Constraints and Uncertainty from Delayed Federal Guidance: A new KFF survey of state Medicaid officials and focus groups in eight states captures the different choices states are making about how to implement Medicaid work requirements, with seven states planning for a more restrictive approach to verifying work or exemption status or to implement work requirements early. These implementation plans are taking shape as states encounter time, cost, and other constraints as well as uncertainty about how to define and verify certain exemptions due to delayed federal guidance. [KFF]
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Does Your Vote Matter? The Impact of Voting in American Elections: The most common source of voter skepticism is the statistical argument: the chance that one individual’s vote will be the single, tie-breaking ballot in a major election is infinitesimally small. While this is mathematically true, a deeper look at the data reveals a more nuanced picture of a vote’s potential power. [GovFacts]
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State elections, policy choices, and accountability: Although often overlooked, state legislatures are gaining national prominence because of their influence over important policy areas, including election administration, education, gun control, and abortion. This growing influence has raised concerns about whether state legislative elections provide sufficient accountability to voters, particularly when policymaking on these issues may become disconnected from the democratic process. However, research suggests that elections do influence legislators’ behavior, with state lawmakers demonstrating greater visible activity when seeking reelection than when term limits prevent them from running again. These findings suggest that voters can play an important role in shaping state policy by increasing electoral pressure on lawmakers seeking reelection. [Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research]
- Bail Reform and Public Safety: Over the past decade, more than a dozen jurisdictions across the United States have implemented reforms limiting the use of money bail. However, following a sharp increase in violent crime during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, critics blamed bail reform for rising crime rates, prompting some jurisdictions to roll back these policies. Despite these concerns, research has found little evidence linking bail reform to increased crime. An analysis by the Brennan Center for Justice comparing crime trends from 2015 to 2021 across 22 cities with bail reform policies and 11 cities without them found no statistically significant relationship between bail reform and crime rates. These findings held across different types of offenses, methods of implementation, and major reforms in states such as New York and New Jersey. The results suggest that bail reform has not been a significant driver of crime trends and that efforts to improve public safety may be better directed toward other evidence-based approaches. [Brennan Center for Justice]
