A national organization, Open Primaries, is among the most prominent backers of an effort to replace Oklahoma’s election system with one modeled after California elections—a process that often results in limiting voters’ choices during the November general election to two members of the same political party in that state.

Notably, many officials with Open Primaries are Democrats or longstanding boosters of left-wing causes.

A group calling itself Oklahoma United is seeking to eliminate Oklahoma’s current election system, which 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.

Instead, Oklahoma United’s proposed State Question 836 would require that all Oklahoma candidates—Democrats, Republicans, and independents—be placed on a single primary ballot with the two candidates receiving the most votes advancing to the general-election ballot. That would largely mirror California elections, where voters’ November choices are often limited to two Democrats and no Republicans.

An initiative-petition effort is underway to collect 172,993 valid signatures to place the proposal on a ballot.

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

According to the group’s website, Open Primaries Senior Vice President Jeremy Gruber was present at the Oklahoma Capitol when the petition for SQ 836 was submitted to the Secretary of State’s Office for approval, and the group declares that it is “proud to support and champion the Vote Yes 836 campaign.”

Gruber has worked for several left-wing groups through the years, including serving as  the field director for the American Civil Liberties Union’s National Taskforce on Civil Liberties in the Workplace, and as legal director for the National Workrights Institute, which was founded by former ACLU employees.

John Opdycke, the founder and president of Open Primaries, worked in 2001 to elect Mike Bloomberg as the mayor of New York City. Bloomberg was a strong supporter of gun control and pursued property tax increases as mayor.

Public records show Opdycke was also a campaign donor to U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Maryland.

Cathy Stewart, national organizing director for Open Primaries, and Gwen Mandell, the group’s director of leadership development, were both involved in the independent presidential campaigns of Lenora B. Fulani in 1988 and 1992. Stewert was also involved in Bloomberg’s mayoral campaigns.

David Belmont, a member of the Open Primaries board, was also involved in Fulani’s presidential campaigns.

Fulani’s presidential campaign focused on support for abortion and claims that police officers “are allowed to get away with racial violence and murder,” among other issues.

Open Primaries board member Richard Sokolow’s resume includes “working on environmental issues and as a community organizer.”

Open Primaries lists several spokespersons on its site, most of whom have longstanding Democratic and/or left-wing ties.

For example, spokesman Sam Rasoul was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates as a Democrat, where he championed a Green New Deal Act for Virginia that would eliminate the use of fossil fuels in that state by 2036. Rasoul also championed gun control.

Jason Altmire is a former Democratic Congressman from Pennsylvania and a spokesman for Open Primaries.

Spokesman Adam Morfeld is a Democrat and former member of the Nebraska Legislature. Morfeld’s focus included promoting Medicaid expansion, which provided health welfare benefits to working-age, able-bodied adults. An October 2024 report by the Platte Institute found that 58 percent of new enrollees added to Medicaid by expansion previously had access to private insurance.

Dany Ortega of Arizona is described as “a Democratic Party leader” as well as the former board chair of the National Council of La Raza.

Another spokesperson, Drey Samuelson, previously worked for former U.S. Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D.

Spokesperson Steve Westly is a Democrat who was elected state controller of California and was involved in the 2010 campaign to enact open primaries in California, which has resulted in numerous races in that state being limited to a choice of two Democrats for the November general election.

Spokesperson Shea Siegert led the 2020 Ballot Measure 2 campaign in Alaska, which instituted a controversial ranked-choice voting process in general elections. Ranked-choice voting in Alaska has caused 11 percent of ballots in elections to be tossed, with spoiled ballots accounting for up to 30 percent of attempted votes cast by some subgroups.

Margaret Kobos, founder of Oklahoma United, is identified as a spokesperson for Open Primaries on the group’s website. Records show Kobos has generally donated money to the political campaigns of Democratic candidates.