More than 90 percent of Oklahoma House Republicans, and 95 percent of Oklahoma Senate Republicans, have jointly signed a letter urging Oklahomans to reject State Question 836, saying the proposal is “bad policy and bad for Oklahoma.”

State Question 836 would eliminate Oklahoma’s primary elections and instead place all candidates from all parties on a single ballot, with all voters participating regardless of party registration. The top two finishers would then proceed to the November general election ballot under SQ 836–even if both candidates are members of the same political party.

That would largely mirror California elections, where even statewide races have involved only two Democratic candidates.

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

Led by House Speaker Kyle Hilbert and Senate President Pro Tempore Lonnie Paxton, 74 Republican members of the Oklahoma House of Representatives and 38 Republican members of the Oklahoma Senate jointly signed a letter warning Oklahomans that SQ 836 “is not what its proponents claim.”

“This is not an ‘open primary’ where you get to pick which party primary you participate in each cycle,” the lawmakers noted. “Further, SQ 836 will likely reduce voter participation in Oklahoma. Average voter turnout in California’s primary elections is actually lower today than it was before the adoption of that state’s chaotic SQ 836-style system. Finally, the system does not produce ‘moderate’ candidates but instead helps candidates advance to the November ballot by appealing to fringe voters during the multi-candidate first round of voting, as can be seen by the results of California elections.”

The lawmakers also noted that the “practical effect of SQ 836 is to limit voter choices.”

“Under SQ 836, there is virtually no chance any Libertarian or Independent candidates will ever be placed on a November general-election ballot in a competitive race,” the lawmakers wrote. “And, in many cases, SQ 836 would limit voter choice in November to two members of the same political party, as happens routinely in California in state and federal elections.”

They also warned that SQ 836 “will produce absurd outcomes in defiance of voter preferences.”

“Had SQ 836 been in place in 2018, Oklahomans would have had to choose between two Democrats for governor that November, because the Republican vote was split among 10 candidates in the primary,” the lawmakers noted. “Thus, even though 452,606 Oklahomans cast a vote for a Republican gubernatorial candidate compared to just 395,494 for a Democrat, the 2018 general election would have involved only two Democratic candidates.”

Election records show that if the California system had been used for Oklahoma elections, nearly every open-seat gubernatorial race won by a Republican in state history would have instead been a Democrat-versus-Democrat general election.

Numerous Oklahoma conservatives, at both the state and federal levels, have come out in strong opposition to SQ 836. In contrast, many of the backers of SQ 836 have longstanding ties to Democratic candidates and left-wing causes, and one of the major organizations backing the effort is based in New York.