OKLAHOMA CITY (January 6, 2025)—Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs President Jonathan Small issued the following statement after proponents refiled a proposed state question that would eliminate primary elections for most federal, state, and local offices in Oklahoma.

“When Oklahoma United announced in November that they were seeking to impose California-style elections in Oklahoma that prevent Republican voters from choosing their own party nominees, we warned that the proposal was fatally flawed,” Small said. “It’s been less than two months and backers of this insidious idea are now trying to salvage their proposal with revisions.

“However, the basic problem remains: A system that prevents voters of a political party from choosing their own nominees is not good for Oklahoma. It’s clear the backers of SQ 836 don’t like the fact that Oklahoma voters keep electing Republicans and supporting candidates like Donald Trump, so they want to rig the system so Democrats and non-Republicans help ‘choose’ all general-election candidates with a California-style ‘top two’ system that eliminates party primaries and puts all candidates on a summer general-election ballot with a runoff held in November.

“Backers of SQ 836 want you to believe this version of that disingenuous proposal is better than the version they filed as SQ 835 in November, but it’s no improvement.

“Make no mistake: This refashioned filing will have the same damaging consequences and seeks to make Oklahoma’s election processes—and election outcomes—similar to those of far-left California.”