Political Dissent Banned in Oklahoma

Voters in Oklahoma who feel disconnected from the two major political parties won't have the chance to vote for any alternatives this November. That's because Oklahoma is one of the strictest and most locked down states for Presidential ballot access in the nation.

In order to secure ballot access in Oklahoma, a political party must submit a petition signed by at least 5% of qualified voters who voted in the last election. In 2012, that amounted to a little over 51,000 signatures.

Unfortunately, the only third party that managed to secure ballot access in the state this year was the Americans Elect party. Unfortunately, they decided not to run a candidate and the national party successfully stopped the state electors from running the Libertarian Party candidate, former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson, on the AE ticket.

To add to the difficulty in securing ballot access, Oklahoma does not recognize write-in candidates on any election  ballot nor does the state allow Independents to be listed on the presidential ballot, effectively locking down the ballot two only two major parties: the Republicans and the Democrats.

But voters are not taking the insult sitting down. Fourth District Congressional Candidate RJ Harris organized and led a massive 'rally for ballot access' on October 8th at the State Capitol and protests are being planned around the state for election day. Oklahoma voters are angry and rightfully so. They are only being allowed to vote their conscience if it agrees with the current de facto monopoly on government and voices falling outside of that narrow realm are ignored.

Both the Oklahoma Libertarian Party and Americans Elect Oklahoma have filed suites challenging their ballot exclusion with the Oklahoma Supreme Court and been denied relief.