Constitutional Right to Farm Amendments and Oklahoma SQ 777

Abstract

Oklahoma voters defeated a right-to-farm amendment (State Question 777) to the state constitution in November 2016. Using data collected at the county level, this paper examines the vote on SQ 777 to determine what lessons can be identified from its defeat. Media reports suggested that SQ 777 found weaker support in more urban counties and in those rural counties with greater water resources. Counties with larger Native American populations also tended to exhibit more “no” votes. This paper uses OLS regression to better understand the electoral outcome described by the Oklahoma media.