Listen Frontier: One group thinks open primary elections in Oklahoma could boost voter turnout

Listen Frontier

A group is seeking to boost voter participation in Oklahoma by opening primary elections to all voters, regardless of political party.

State-level races are often decided in Republican primaries in Oklahoma, because there are no Independent or Democratic candidates on the ballot, leaving many voters locked out.

“Voters are showing up with nothing to vote for and all the meaningful decisions are happening in the primary.” said Jeremy Gruber, an organizer for the group Oklahoma United. “That’s why everyone needs a chance to participate.”

The change would come through Oklahoma’s Initiative Petition process. Gruber said if signature collection goes well, the group hopes to get the measure on the ballot as a State Question in 2026, when Oklahoma will be selecting a new governor.

Independents are the fastest growing voter demographic in the state, according to the Oklahoma State Election Board. There are 481,817 Independent voters registered in the state, a 32.4% increase since 2020. Meanwhile, Democrat voter registration declined by 12.2% during the same period. Republican voter registration has increased 13.1% in Oklahoma since 2020.

Oklahoma currently allows political parties to hold closed primary elections. In recent years, the Oklahoma Democratic Party has allowed independents to vote in primaries, but the Republican and Libertarian parties have continued to hold closed primaries.

Gruber said there are multiple systems of open primaries in use across the country, but the version the group hopes Oklahomans will soon see on a ballot mimics municipal elections most are already familiar with.

“Many of those municipalities across the state, which are arguably some of our more functional forms of government, use a unified primary,” former State Sen. AJ Griffin, who supports open primaries, said.

“Voter participation is a sign of a healthy democracy,” Griffin said. “This isn’t a partisan issue … but it is a way to engage all of the voters in the process and increase civic participation in a state with one of the highest ratings for election integrity in the country.

Gruber said every state that has enacted an open primary system has seen voter turnout increase.

“It's not hard to understand why,” he said. “You let more voters vote, you get higher voter turnout. It's basic math.”

Only 64% of Oklahoma voters participated in this year’s 2024 general election.

The Republican mayors of both Oklahoma City and Tulsa favor the switch.

Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt said in September that he hopes a statewide open primary system would wipe out some of Oklahoma’s partisan divide.

“People say ‘Gosh it sure seems like you’re electing mayors that unify people, that seem competent, that are well-liked across the political spectrum,” Holt said. “It’s not magic … every voter gets to see all the candidates, and all the candidates have to face all of the voters.”

Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum told The Tulsa World earlier this year that he now supports open primaries, after he campaigned against them as a city councilor more than a decade ago.

“I think it is important to point out, there is a Republican dominance right now (in Oklahoma), but we have had for a longer period of time in Oklahoma with Democratic dominance, and I think we would have benefited from this under either scenario,” Bynum told the paper.

Griffin said Holt’s political career – he has been elected under a closed primary model to the state Legislature, and an open primary model as Oklahoma City’s mayor – is a prime example of how the system should work.

“When you’re in (an open) system, you are beholden to everybody in your district,” Griffin said. “Which means it’s your responsibility, as it always should be as an elected leader, to meet with, represent and lead everybody.”