Just over half of Oklahomans voted in the presidential election trailing only Hawaii for the lowest voter turnout nationwide. Oklahoma United wants to amend the state constitution opening state primaries to everyone. 

Many independent voters behind this petition said they feel they don’t have a say in their community until it’s too late.

They want their government to represent everyone, and they said Oklahoma has to change its tune. 

“We are all here today to support improving our democracy,” A.J. Griffin, chief executive officer of the Potts Family Foundation. 

Oklahoma United filed a petition on behalf of several independent voters. U.S. Coast Guard veteran Anthony Stobbe said he feels left out in primary elections. 

“Over half of military service members don’t affiliate with a political party,” Stobbe said. “The current system we have in place says to me that your political opinions don’t matter.” 

Oklahoma Republicans only allow registered GOP voters to vote in their primaries. News 9 Political Analyst Scott Mitchell said closed primaries silence diverse voices. 

“The numbers are down,” said Mitchell, referring to Oklahoma’s chronically low voter turnout. “If you’ve got a small minority deciding all of the issues, that’s not a healthy democracy.” 

The spokesperson for the Vote Yes 835 campaign Alex Weintz said politicians don’t have to work for people’s vote. 

“We’ve made these November races all but meaningless,” Weintz said. “A Democrat in a heavily Democratic area or a Republican in a heavily Republican area is just cruising to victory.” 

Gov. Kevin Stitt posted to X saying, “Open primaries are a hard no in Oklahoma.” 

Lt Gov. Matt Pinnell said in a statement:

“At best, the push to mandate open primaries is a solution in search of a problem, and at worst, it is a thinly veiled attempt to weaken Republican voters in choosing the nominees to represent our Party. As a former Republican state party chairman and State Party Director at the RNC, I would hope the current primary structure would incentivize independents and conservative Democrats to register as Republicans and help choose our party’s nominees.” 

Mitchell said most state Republicans will oppose the idea of open primaries because the current rules overwhelmingly benefit GOP candidates. 

“They’re doing just fine with the results,” said Mitchell, regarding the legislature’s GOP supermajority. 

However, Stobbe believes democracy is at stake, and he said it’s time for Oklahomans to face the music. 

“It’s time to fix this,” Stobbe said. “It shifts the decision about who will represent the people closer to all of the people.” 

Oklahoma United submitted the initial petition to the secretary of state.

Once approved they have 90 days to gather nearly 173,000 signatures and get them certified to get the question on the ballot.

Advocates for this measure hope to get the question on the table for the November general election in 2026.

TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) – Shawnee Heights baseball standout Deacon Pomeroy made it official with Oklahoma State baseball on Monday, signing his National Letter of Intent at the high school.

Pomeroy has been committed to the Cowboys for over a year, and told 13 Sports that finally signing his NLI took a big weight off his shoulders.

As one of the top recruits in the state, he’s racked up his fair share of accolades in his high school career.

The catcher and power hitter is the reigning 5A Player of the Year, UKC Player of the Year, and a 1st Team All-State Selection.

He believes Oklahoma State is a program that will help him reach his ultimate goal, making it to the MLB.

“It really felt like family,” Pomeroy said about his visit to Stillwater. “That seemed what they really intended for us to be. They took very good care of us, and honestly they have very top notch facilities. So it’s kind of a no-brainer at that point.“

For now, he’s excited to enjoy his final year of high school baseball with the Thunderbirds.

“It’s that last bit of kind of feeling like this is for fun. Like just go out here and have fun with the boys and just go play,” he said.

Pomeroy can also be found hitting the court with the boys basketball team this winter.

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Oklahoma’s chief school officer and Trump administration education secretary hopeful is now demanding that students in the state watch a video of him praying for Donald Trump.

In an email circulated to Oklahoma public school superintendents last week, Ryan Walters ordered them to play the video to “all kids that are enrolled” in their districts as well as to the students’ parents.

Walters wrote that it was “a dangerous time for this country” and that students “rights and freedoms regarding religious liberties are continuously under assault,” the Oklahoman reported.

In the bizarre video, Walters announced a new office in the state called “the Office of Religious Liberty and Patriotism.”

“For too long in this country we’ve seen the radical left attack individuals’ religious liberty in our schools. We will not tolerate that in Oklahoma. Your religious Liberties will be protected,” Walters said, before bowing his head in a prayer for Trump.

“I pray for our leaders to make the right decisions. I pray in particular for President Donald Trump and his team as they continue to bring about change to the country,” he said.

When grilled by CNN’s Pam Brown about what gives him the authority to demand schools play the video to their students, Walters accused Brown of pushing a “left-wing narrative” and maintained that Trump “has a clear mandate.”

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“He wants prayer back in school. He wants radical leftism out of the classroom. He wants our kids to be patriotic,” he said. “He wants parents back in charge with school choice. We’re enacting upon that agenda here in Oklahoma.”

Several school districts in Oklahoma said they have no intention of showing the video, the Oklahoman reported.

The office of the state’s Republican attorney general, Genter Drummond, also weighed in and said that Walters cannot mandate schools to play the video.

“There is no statutory authority for the state schools superintendent to require all students to watch a specific video,” Phil Bacharach, a spokesman for the state attorney general’s office, told the newspaper.

“Not only is this edict unenforceable, it is contrary to parents’ rights, local control and individual free-exercise rights.”

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Walters, who ordered schools to incorporate the Bible into classrooms and backs Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy’s pledge to scrap the federal Department of Education, is thought to currently be in the running to be named Trump’s new education secretary.

In June, he notified all Oklahoma state schools to “immediately” incorporate the Bible into classroom curriculum, drawing immediate outrage and threats of lawsuits.

“Effective immediately, all Oklahoma schools are required to incorporate the Bible, which includes the Ten Commandments, as an instructional support into the curriculum” in grades five through 12, according to the notice from the Republican school superintendent.

“The Bible is one of the most historically significant books and a cornerstone of Western civilization, along with the Ten Commandments,” the notice reads.

At a press conference at the time, Walters said that every school in the state “will have a Bible in the classroom,” and that every teacher “will be teaching from the Bible in the classroom.”

The move, which led to him being sued by more than 30 educators and parents, propeled him into the national spotlight.