Direct democracy in Oklahoma: Exploring the usage and results of initiative and referendum

Abstract

The Oklahoma Secretary of State maintains an online listing of every proposed state question. The website and its associated primary documents provide answers to a variety of questions related to Oklahoma's use of initiative and referendum. This article explores those data. In the process it identifies and documents some of the naturally occurring political biases associated with initiative and referenda in Oklahoma. It calculates the effects of these structural predispositions on the likelihood of a state question successfully garnering a majority of the vote. The results indicate that some state questions begin the process with little hope of success while others are almost certain to succeed.