Monthly Archives: January 2014

Republican And Democratic Party Identification Continues To Lose Ground

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gallup_party_identificationAccording to the latest Gallup opinion polls, people who identify themselves as Independent are continuing to increase in numbers in the US. This latest poll shows that in 2013 an average of 42% of people identify as Independent while those who identify as Democratic or Republican have fallen to 31% and 25%, respectively.

This growth in Independent identification has come at the expense of the Republican Party.

Americans’ increasing shift to independent status has come more at the expense of the Republican Party than the Democratic Party. Republican identification peaked at 34% in 2004, the year George W. Bush won a second term in office. Since then, it has fallen nine percentage points, with most of that decline coming during Bush’s troubled second term. When he left office, Republican identification was down to 28%. It has declined or stagnated since then, improving only slightly to 29% in 2010, the year Republicans “shellacked” Democrats in the midterm elections.

gallup_party_identification_2013The numbers get more interesting when you look at the quarterly breakdown of the 2013 year. When viewed that way, you see an even stronger surge of Independents at the end of the year compared to Democrats and Republicans (46%, 29%, and 22%, respectively).

The percentage of Americans identifying as independents grew over the course of 2013, surging to 46% in the fourth quarter. That coincided with the partial government shutdown in October and the problematic rollout of major provisions of the healthcare law, commonly known as “Obamacare.”

The 46% independent identification in the fourth quarter is a full three percentage points higher than Gallup has measured in any quarter during its telephone polling era.

Personally, I would love to see a similar poll of Oklahomans. While Oklahoma’s Independent registrations have grown over the years, we don’t have registrations that reflect this opinion poll.

New Legislative Session And New Election Bills Are Upon Us

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A new Legislative session is upon us. With this new session, two things are going to happen. The first major thing is that all bills that did not lose a vote in the 2013 Session are revived for this session. These bills will most likely pick up where they left off.

This means that both SB668 and HB2134 still have a chance to be heard in the House, and HB2134 could still be heard in the Senate. If the House chooses to hear and vote on SB668 and not HB2134, then SB668 will go to the governor’s desk, barring any amendments. If the House instead decides to hear HB2134 rather than SB668, then the Senate, based on recent history, would have to hold a vote on that legislation and would most like amend it to more closely resemble SB668.  This would require a conference to settle to difference. That would not be good as the last two conferences which should have reviewed passed Ballot Access Reform refused to address it.

Another bill that is still alive and very dangerous is SB76. This bill would double the fees paid by those seeking to run for office. While this bill, if passed would not change the rules for the 2014 election, it will make running for office in 2016 far more expensive. The House may still take this legislation up and if it votes to approve it, it will harm Oklahoma’s already poor election climate.

The second major thing that is happening this year is that a whole host of new bills will be introduced. Many have already come and are available to view on the Legislature’s website. We will be writing up many stories to highlight some of the worst and some of the best bills that are filed this year.

Regardless of what bills are introduced or carried over, the House and Senate both have deadlines to stick to. The major deadlines are as follows.

  • Introduction of bills: January 16
  • Bills to be heard in house of origin: March 13
  • Bills to be heard in opposite house: April 24

We will also be watching various House and Senate Committees as they review bills we are tracking.  We already have a list of all the bills that are carried over from the 2013 Session and we will be adding some bills introduced this session. We will be updating that page with notes of each bill’s path through the Legislature. We will also be reporting on those updates as well. So keep and eye out and your ears open.

Tracey J Williamson Will Not Be Running For Governor

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Tracey J WilliamsonLast week we reported that Tracey J Williamson was making a run for governor. At the time, we expressed concern about her party status as it it was unclear which party she was registered under and for how long has been a member. Oklahoma Statute requires that you be a registered member of the party you wish to run under for at least six months before the filing period.

This past weekend, Tracey has dropped her intent to run upon learning of this requirement.

This is going to put an end to anything I was trying to do here. When I resigned my affiliation from the Republican party, I did not register with any party. This being the case my hands are tied. We can only hope that a viable candidate will appear that we can trust and get behind.

We are sad to see her leave the race this early. We love to have as many people as possible join the race, especially if they support positive changes to Oklahoma’s election laws.

We Agree With Jason Murphey; We Need To Challenge Incumbents

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Representative Jason MurpheyOklahoma has a real problem when it comes to elections. We have too few people running for office. It is something that has gotten progressively worse over the years. In the 2012 election alone, only 47 of the 101 available House seats were opposed. Of those that were opposed, only 32 elections actually appeared on the 2012 November ballot.

With this major lack of real challenge to incumbents, Oklahoma’s politicians become complacent in their ideals and neglect to serve the interests of the people of Oklahoma.

Representative Jason Murphey recognizes this problem and has expressed as much in a recent Facebook post. Continue reading →

Tracey J Williamson Announces Intent To Run For Governor

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Tracey J WilliamsonWe have another contender for the office of Governor. Since October of last year we have had 4 people, including incumbent Mary Fallin, join the race for Oklahoma’s next Governor. We now have a fifth candidate.

Tracey J Williamson has announced her intent to run. Running for office as a citizen candidate, Tracey made her announcement as follows:

Can an ordinary citizen run for governor ? Why shouldn’t they ? The slick politicians and lawyers are not leading Oklahoma in a positive direction. It is very clear they are self serving and only seeking re-election or other political goals by pandering to special interests. We need a positive change and perhaps that should come from one of us, not one of them.

Until we see a viable candidate that is not a business as usual , typical politician, I will seek that position.

In a video update, Tracey explains her political affiliation. She has been a registered Republican but considers herself a Libertarian. She explains that she intends to run as a Democrat. However, it was not immediately clear on whether she is currently registered as a Democrat. Oklahoma Statute requires that anyone seeking office be a registered member of the party they wish to run under for at least six months prior to the filing period. So, if she is not a registered Democrat as of the first week of October, she would ineligible to run as a Democrat. We have asked for clarification on this matter.

The video also contains her thoughts on a few issues, particularly storm shelters in schools, horse slaughter and prison reform. When asked about her position on Ballot Access Reform, she had this to say:

I am for ballot reform, absolutely. Everyone should have a candidate they feel represents their thinking. It should not be that hard to make this a reality.

We welcome any challenger that would make Ballot Access Reform an issue in the 2014 election and look forward to watching Tracey’s bid the for the governor seat. As we gain more information, we will let you know.