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No on SQ802: Obamacare Medicaid expansion

The only state question on the June 30, 2020, primary ballot is Oklahoma State Question 802. This would create a new Constitutional Amendment, Article XXV-A, requiring the State of Oklahoma to offer Obamacare Medicaid expansion coverage to anyone below a certain income, regardless of the person's work or family status....

Posted by Michael Bates on June 21, 2020 8:12 PM

Flashback: Ayatollah Drew Edmondson shackles petitioners

In 2007, Attorney General Drew Edmondson made national headlines -- embarrassing headlines -- when he indicted three leaders of a petition effort to protect taxpayers and property owners against government-backed greed and then had them shackled and perp-walked out of the courtroom. The spectacle caused publisher and erstwhile presidential candidate...

Posted by Michael Bates on November 4, 2018 8:15 AM

Oklahoma State Questions: some background

This is the first in a planned series on the 11 state questions on the November 2, 2010, Oklahoma general election ballot. In Oklahoma, a state question can be either the result of an initiative petition obtaining the required number of signatures or the legislature referring a matter for the...

Posted by Michael Bates on September 30, 2010 10:39 PM

Oklahoma gets a C+ on initiative & referendum rights

The Citizens in Charge Foundation has issued its 2010 report card on voter initiative rights in each of the states. (The full state-by-state report is an 8.2 MB PDF. The flag pictures are pretty -- I always like to see the old-fashioned font, with the arched A, used for OKLAHOMA,...

Posted by Michael Bates on February 3, 2010 6:56 AM

Rick Carpenter: Surviving a Grand Jury Indictment

BREAKING NEWS: Gov. Brad Henry has vetoed HB 2246, the initiative petition reform bill to which Rick Carpenter alludes in the essay below, despite near unanimous support from the legislature. According to an e-mail press release from Oklahomans for Responsible Government late last night, "[Henry] claims that the provision that...

Posted by Michael Bates on June 6, 2009 6:12 AM