OKLAHOMA CITY - While much of the U.S. was slammed with severe winter weather over the weekend, volunteers for Oklahoma State Question 836 – which would end the use of taxpayer-funded closed primaries in the state – made a final push to get their campaign to over 200,000 petition signatures.

And on Monday, the campaign submitted these signatures to the secretary of state’s office.

“This campaign started with everyday Oklahomans talking about ways we could make our government more accountable and more responsive to the people,” said Margaret Kobos, Founder and CEO of Oklahoma United, the non-profit that helped launch the initiative.

That conversation has now become a statewide movement for reform, and I could not be prouder of the volunteers, donors and staff who got us to this point.”

The filing surpasses the 172,993 valid signatures required to qualify the initiative for the ballot. The question is, will it be enough cushion to give Oklahoma voters an opportunity to weigh in on an all-voter and all-candidate nonpartisan primary system under SQ836?

Here is what the initiative does to state primary elections:

• It places all candidates for an office on a single primary ballot, regardless of party;
• Lists each candidate’s party affiliation (if any); and
• Allows all registered voters, regardless of party, to participate

Similar nonpartisan election systems are in place in California and Washington.

Under Oklahoma’s current system, recognized major political parties can decide whether or not to allow independent voters to participate in their primaries. In 2026, the Republican, Democratic, and Libertarian Parties all chose to bar independents from participating.

“Roughly one in five registered voters – almost 500,000 independents – will be barred from participating in taxpayer-funded primaries that effectively decide the vast majority of elected offices in the state,” the Yes on 836 campaign states.

Further, as noted by SQ 836 supporters, “Oklahoma has a 68% uncontested rate. It’s the highest in the country. Politicians are not being held accountable term after term after term. They don’t have to run because no one is running against them.”

Yes on 836 organizers say their petition milestone reflects growing frustration with an election system that sidelines hundreds of thousands of registered independent voters and leaves most meaningful elections decided before the general election even occurs.

But the final days of signature gathering weren’t smooth. Severe winter weather across Oklahoma limited in-person signing opportunities, forced organizers to cancel events, and complicated the transportation of completed petitions to Oklahoma City.

At the same time, the campaign faced legal challenges, establishment resistance, and organized opposition from political parties that benefit from closed primaries.

“We are able to turn in these signatures today because hundreds of hardworking volunteers from every corner of the state stood in the wind, bitter cold, and the snow – even through the holidays – to get this on the ballot,” said Ken Setter, a retired Tulsa pediatrician and longtime supporter of the initiative.

Setter said volunteers were motivated by a simple idea: Oklahoma cannot fix what is broken in state government without first fixing how leaders are chosen.

“That means creating a system where all Oklahomans can bring their ideas and solutions to the table – and where no one is excluded from meaningful participation,” he said. “Along the way, they met thousands of voters who are hopeful to see this change.”

For reformers, the stakes are high.

Opening primaries would fundamentally shift power away from party insiders and toward a broader electorate, including independents, who make up a growing share of Oklahoma’s registered voters.

As Setter put it, the goal is simple:

“Fix how we choose our leaders and we can start fixing everything else.”

The secretary of state will now begin verifying the submitted signatures. Campaigns typically expect some portion of signatures to be disqualified for technical reasons, but organizers are confident they have submitted enough to clear the threshold.

If the initiative qualifies, Oklahoma voters will decide the future of their primary system in November 2026.