MAGA Influence Strong in 40 States

 On May 27, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) signed Senate Bill 1027 (SB 1027), approving changes to the state’s initiative and referendum processes.

The bill passed in the Oklahoma Legislature despite all Democrats voting against it and all but six Republicans voting for it.

So far this year, legislators in 49 states have passed 64 bills to change ballot measure processes, including six that governors vetoed. Oklahoma Senate Bill 1027 is one of 40 such bills that had majority support from Republicans. Two bills had majority support from Democrats, and 22 had bipartisan support.

The Oklahoma law establishes:

● new petition sheet requirements,

●signature distribution requirements,

● prohibits pay-per-signature, 

● requires signature gatherers to be Oklahoma residents.

In Oklahoma, the number of signatures required to put an initiative on the ballot is based on the number of votes cast in the last gubernatorial election:

● 15% for constitutional initiatives (172,993 for 2026),

● 8% for statutory initiatives (92,263 for 2026), 

● 5% for veto referenda (57,664 for 2026).

Before SB 1027, Oklahoma did not have any requirements dictating that certain amounts of signatures come from certain counties or districts.

SB 1027 establishes a distribution requirement limiting the number of signatures collected from a single county to 11.5% of the votes cast in the county in the last gubernatorial election for statutory initiatives and 20.8% for constitutional initiatives.

Oklahoma is the 17th state with an initiative process to enact a signature distribution requirement. 

SB 1027 also made Oklahoma the ninth state with an initiative process to require signature gatherers to be registered voters in that state.

The other states with residency requirements are Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, and Utah. Along with Oklahoma, Florida also enacted a residency requirement in 2025.

SB 1027 also prohibits signature gatherers from being paid per signature, making Oklahoma the 10th state to enact such a ban.

The nine other states with these bans are Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming.

Under SB 1027, entities funding initiative signature-gathering campaigns must submit weekly reports to the secretary of state detailing the expenditures and attesting that the funds are not from out of state.

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