Oklahomans face hurdles in citizen-led ballot initiatives amidst progressive policy push

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. (KOKH) — Oklahomans have many ways to make their voices heard when it comes to passing our laws.

Besides the traditional going out to vote for your representative or a state question, you can introduce topics yourself.

The citizen led ballot initiative process has been a successful way to pass policies.

Most recently, Oklahomans voted to approve medical marijuana legalization, expanding Medicaid and even pass criminal justice reforms.

Those were all initiatives that started from groups gaining momentum, all the way to advocating for a policy to be on the ballot.

Andy Moore runs a non-partisan organization advocating for Oklahomans to come out and vote.

"Oklahoma is really fortunate that we're one of about two dozen states that have the initiative petition process," Moore said. "Oklahomans love it. We use it regularly. It is a great way to have direct influence in democracy."

Recently though, he said it's become more difficult for our state's citizens to use their voices at the ballot box.

"Over the last few years we've seen several proposals to make the initiative petition more difficult, whether by adding fines or fees associated with it, or changing some of the requirements for the ballot language," Moore said.

In a majority conservative state, leaders at the ACLU Oklahoma said the process has been utilized to push more progressive policies.

"There are small groups across the state of Oklahoma that are considering what steps should be taken next regarding abortion rights,"Tamya Cox-Toure, the Executive Director ACLU Oklahoma said.

A few other states including Ohio have used initiative petitions to protect abortion rights.

For that reason, organizations like Americans United for Life are pushing back on the process. In a social media post, they claimed largely pro-life states like Oklahoma should instead require the legislature to decide policy.

"We are always concerned when outside organizations try to thwart the will of the people, the will of Oklahomans,"Cox-Toure said.

Regardless of certain policy issues, Oklahomans of every political affiliation can try and get their priorities up for a vote.

"The initiative petition process is used by people of all parties, right, left, center, otherwise," Moore said. "This really is just a method of direct democracy so voters have a chance to weigh in directly to policy."