Press Release: March 15th, 2007
Contact: Richard Prawdzienski 405-613-3513 Prawdz@aol.com
Oklahoma Libertarians want to give Oklahomans more voter choice despite recent ruling
The Libertarian Party of Oklahoma will continue to work to give Oklahomans more voter choice, despite a recent ruling to uphold Oklahoma's restrictive ballot access laws, considered one of the worst in the nation. These laws create barriers to political party running candidates and made Oklahoma the only state with just two choices for president in 2004.
State Chairman, Jimmy Cook, said, "The constitution of the State of Oklahoma specifically guarantees that the right to "free and fair elections" will be protected. The decision the Oklahoma State Court of Appeals judges disregards the clear intent of our state constitution. We plan to appeal to the State Supreme Court."
The Libertarian Political Organization v. Clingman case was filed in 2004, when Oklahoma Libertarians submitted 26,462 signatures to formally recognize their party. Current Oklahoma law requires signatures equal to 5% of the last major vote, which was over 50,000 that year. For fifty years, from 1924-1974, the requirement was only 5,000 signatures.
Jimmy Cook said, "The laws regarding the recognition of political parties were written by the two parties in control of the Oklahoma State Senate and House. The Democrats and Republicans wrote rules that protect them from competition. When this behavior happens in private business, it is considered a monopoly."
"The major party politicians in our state government say that the election rules were written this way to protect voters from having too many choices on Election Day. They are treating the adult voters of Oklahoma like children. Also, they ignore our history. During the fifty years before these restrictive laws were enacted, only four parties were ever on the ballot at one time."
Former State Chairman, Richard Prawdzienski, said, "We fought a war on the premise that our Creator, not the King, gave us unalienable Rights. Among these Rights is the freedom of political expression."
The current 5% requirement is far more restrictive than surrounding states. Compared to Texas, Missouri, and New Mexico, Oklahomans had to collect over ten times the signatures per capita to recognize a party in 2006. The editor of Ballot Access News, Richard Winger, wrote about the recent decision, “The Court does not seem to understand that the median petition requirement for new parties in the 50 states is less than 1%."
A majority of U.S. Supreme Court Justices recently expressed that Oklahoma’s ballot laws were too restrictive in the Beaver v. Clingman case. However, in a 3-6 decision, they ruled that the state could keep Oklahoma Libertarians from allowing members of other parties to vote in their primaries.
In a 1984 ruling, U.S. District Judge Lee West said Oklahoma's ballot access laws were "more severe" than in any other state. He said they violated the Libertarian Party's First Amendment right of political association and the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. He ordered the Libertarian Party put on the Oklahoma ballot, but the ruling only applied to that year.
Oklahoma Libertarians have long worked with Oklahomans for Ballot Access Reform, a coalition of third party members seeking legislative reform. This session, reform bills were introduced to return the requirement back to the historic 5,000 signatures, but were denied a hearing in committee. Visit www.OkVoterChoice.org for more information.
