Visit www.declinetosignok.com to learn more about SQ 836.

A group wanting Oklahomans to junk the state’s primary elections and replace them with so-called open primaries has previously touted the state of California as a success story for the proposed new system.

An August 2015 report by the group Open Primaries says the proposed system worked in California, noting that after its implementation Democrats held two-thirds of seats in the California Legislature for the first time since 1933 and that those Republicans who managed to win races under the “open primary” system were those willing to “challenge their own party leadership and enter into issue-by-issue conversations and coalitions with their Democratic colleagues.”

Oklahoma’s current election system allows Republican voters to pick Republican nominees in party primaries while Democratic voters do the same in their party’s primaries, with the two parties’ candidates then facing off in the November general election along with any independent candidates who file for an office.

But under the proposed State Question 836, all Oklahoma candidates—Democrats, Republicans, and independents—would be placed on a single primary ballot with all voters participating. The two candidates receiving the most votes would then proceed to the general-election ballot. That would largely mirror California elections, where voters’ November choices are often limited to two Democrats and no Republicans, even in statewide races.

An initiative-petition effort is underway to collect 172,993 valid signatures to place SQ 836 on the ballot in Oklahoma.

An out-of-state organization, Open Primaries, is a major player in that effort and lists Oklahoma as one of the state campaigns it is backing, stating that the Oklahoma effort “builds on 10 years of conversations and organizing in the Sooner state.”

Group Touts California as a ‘Blueprint’ for Other States

On its website, Open Primaries includes a report touting California as an example for the rest of the nation to follow. The report, “A QUIET REVOLUTION: The Early Successes of California’s Top Two Nonpartisan Primary,” claims that “top two” elections in California produced a “functional legislature” in that state.

“We believe that the rapid and transformative impact of Top Two in California can serve as a blueprint for others looking to reduce legislative dysfunction and voter disengagement,” the Open Primaries report stated.

Prior to the adoption of an “open primary” or “top two” system, the report stated that California “was considered one of the most partisan political environments in the nation,” and claimed that changed once party primaries were eliminated.

One possible reason for the supposed elimination of partisanship is that California became even more of a one-party state after “open primaries” were adopted. Immediately after the adoption of the election change, the report notes that Democrats seized control of two-thirds of the California Legislature, a high-water mark since 1933.

And things have become even more lopsided since then.

California is one of only 18 states where Democrats controlled both chambers of the Legislature at the start of 2025. Democrats now hold 75 percent of legislative seats in both chambers of the California Legislature, a higher Democratic share than all but three states. The only states where Democrats control a larger share of legislative seats are Hawaii, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island.

The surge in Democratic members may be tied, in part, to the fact that California’s “top two” system often results in general elections involving two candidates from the same political party, typically Democrats.

The 2015 Open Primaries report described those same-party elections as a feature, not a bug, of the system. The report dismissed arguments that one-party races reduce and restrain voter choice, instead insisting that same-party races “significantly increased competitiveness.”

The report portrayed one same-party general election for the California state assembly as a success, noting that Democrat Marc Levine defeated incumbent Democrat Michael Allen in the November 2012 election. The report portrayed Levine as someone who succeeded by reaching “out to the independents and Republicans in his district.”

However, Levine’s subsequent record in office was not moderate. During his time in the California Assembly, Levine authored laws that provided taxpayer support to illegal immigrants and made it illegal for state officials to share information with federal immigration authorities in certain instances.

Had the California-style primary system been in place in Oklahoma in 2018, voters’ choices would have been limited to two liberal Democrats in that year’s governor’s race.

In Oklahoma’s 2018 gubernatorial race, there were 10 candidates who filed to run as Republicans and two who filed to run as Democrats. In the June 2018 primary, 452,606 Oklahomans cast a vote for a Republican gubernatorial candidate compared to 395,494 votes cast for a Democrat.

But under the California model, the November ballot that year would have pitted Democrat Drew Edmondson against Democrat Connie Johnson with no Republican option for Oklahoma voters. Because the Republican vote was split 10 ways in the primary, no GOP candidate received more votes than the second-place finisher in the Democratic primary.

While the Open Primaries report described California as having a more functional legislature after changing its election system, the state continues to rank poorly on key metrics today.

According to U.S. News & World Report, California ranks 42nd in fiscal stability while Oklahoma ranks 21st.

According to the Pew Charitable Trust, in Fiscal Year 2025, Oklahoma had put enough money into its “rainy day” fund to cover 69.9 days’ worth of spending. Only 12 states did better.

In contrast, California could cover only 43.3 days’ worth of spending.

Oklahoma has achieved greater financial stability than California while having substantially lower income-tax rates and steadily cutting those rates. While Oklahoma’s top income-tax rate will fall from 4.75 percent to 4.5 percent starting in 2026 (even as the state also reduces the number of income-tax brackets from six to three), the state of California has a top rate of 13.3 percent.