Oklahoma Supreme Court clears path for open primary question to reach voters

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — The Oklahoma Supreme Court unanimously ruled Tuesday that a proposed change to an open primary election system would not violate the state constitution, clearing the way for supporters to begin gathering signatures to get the measure on the ballot.

The decision is the latest development in the battle over State Question 836, which would eliminate Oklahoma’s current closed partisan primaries and replace them with a “jungle primary” system where all candidates appear on the same ballot, regardless of party.

Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt has been one of the state’s most vocal advocates for the change.

“And I think the evidence bears it out, you naturally get a better outcome,” Holt said on News 4’s FlashPoint in September 2024. “You’re appealing, especially today, to a narrower and narrower slice of the electorate.”

Under the proposed “jungle primary” system, all candidates for a given office—Republican, Democratic, Libertarian, and Independent—would appear on the same primary ballot.

Each voter would vote for one candidate.

The top two vote-getters, regardless of party, would advance to the general election.

Registered Independent voter Tony Stobbe is part of a bipartisan group of Oklahomans who started the initiative petition effort to get SQ 836 on ballots.

“The primaries decide 80, 90% of election outcomes, which means I’m disenfranchised,” Stobbe said.

But Republican Party leaders objected.

“I do think in general this group is pushing this for that reason, though, they want to move the party to the left by doing this,” Oklahoma GOP Executive Director Stan Stevens told News 4 in November 2024.

The Oklahoma Republican Party sued to block the measure, arguing it would violate candidates’ First Amendment right to associate with a political party.

Amid the legal fight, in 2025, state lawmakers passed a bill restricting how many signatures petitioners can collect from Oklahoma's two most populous counties—making it harder to reach the required statewide signature total.

But on Tuesday, the state Supreme Court ruled 8–0 State Question 836 is constitutional, and petitioners can begin collecting signatures.

“They cleared the hurdles and gave a green light for it to proceed,” Stobbe said.

The court also ruled supporters will not have to follow the new law restricting how many signatures can come from certain counties, because the law wasn’t in place when the petition was filed.

“And that’s a win because those rules are much less restrictive and much more fair,” Stobbe said.

Oklahoma GOP leaders were not available for an on-camera interview Tuesday, but Party Chair Charity Linch sent the following statement to News 4:

“The Oklahoma Republican Party will continue to fight open primaries. We cannot uphold our morals if those who do not treasure our values are allowed to influence the representatives chosen for our party.”

Supporters of State Question 836 told News 4 that not having to follow the new signature rules will help, but they believe they can still meet the 174,000-signature threshold either way.

They expect to start gathering signatures by October or November.