Yesterday, Representative Joe Dorman, Democrat District 65, announced his plans to run for governor against current Democratic Challenger RJ Harris and incumbent Governor Mary Fallin. Rep. Dorman is best known lately for his efforts to help get a ballot initiative in front of voters which would create a fund for the installation of storm shelters in public schools. Rep. Dorman is also term limited at the end of this session.

We have reached out to Rep. Dorman about his views on ballot access reform and are awaiting his response. However we have look at his voting history on a couple of past bills.

In 2009, HB 1072 reached the House Floor for a vote. While the bill was introduced to revert the state back to that 5,000 signature requirement, the House received an amended bill that simply struck the Presidential races from the 5% calculations. Rep. Dorman voted in favor of this modified bill.

In 2011, HB1058 reached the house Floor for a vote as well. This bill was also amended from its original language calling for a 5,000 signature threshold to a 22,500 signature threshold. This bill would have greatly improved Oklahoma’s strict ballot access regulations. Rep. Dorman also voted in favor of this modified bill.

Based on these two votes, it would not be hard to say that he would support HB2134 or SB668 if either one were to come to a vote in the 2014 Legislative Session. If neither HB2134 nor SB 668 come to a vote this year, the question becomes, would he support such a bill if it came across his desk as Governor? Would he passively support such a bill or would he be instrumental in getting it passed?

We will keep you advised of his comments on this topic.