The Hot Seat: Oklahoma Group Hopes To Boost Voter Turnout With Primary System Reform

A study by the Election Lab at the University of Florida found that Oklahoma had the lowest voter turnout during the Presidential election.

On Saturday's Hot Seat, News on 6's political analyst Scott Mitchell shares the work a group is doing to turn those voter numbers around in the future.

Changing the Primary System

To address this issue, Mitchell's guest, Pat McFerron, discussed the efforts of the "Yes on 835" group to reform Oklahoma's primary system. McFerron explained, "We're going to get rid of the exclusionary Republican and Democrat primaries and create one ballot. It's basically, it's how every city, town, community in Oklahoma does it."

Increasing Civic Participation

McFerron emphasized the importance of greater civic participation.

"I think if you end up having those debates in the general election where you can invite everybody in to participate, you have a better chance to change actual behavior." He added, "If we make it where we tell people your vote doesn't matter, your vote doesn't count, and they don't participate in that, they're less likely to participate in planning commissions or boards or food banks or any other civic engagement."

Resistance from the "Ruling Class"

However, McFerron acknowledged that the "ruling class" within the Republican party may resist these changes.

"The thing they don't want is the people. And I'm a Republican, I mean, and you know that, but for those watching, I was a state commitment for the Republican Party back in 1986 I was very active in the right to work effort. I've been involved in more than 100 successful legislative campaigns for Republican candidates, gubernatorial, presidential I was the only pollster Trump used in 2016 in the primary nationwide. And so those that are in power don't want to lose it, and they can control what they're doing right now, and it's insular."

The Path Forward

In the coming months, the "Yes on 835" group will be working to gather signatures to get the state question on the ballot.

"We will still have party affiliation. That's one thing different from the cities. And then everybody votes for one person, and then the top two face off in the general election. I think that's fine. This is really an Oklahoma solution. It's not about any place else," McFerron said.