Today is primary election day across Oklahoma – a momentous occasion throughout the land where most people go about their normal routines, doing boring stuff like waiting in the Braum's drive-thru, while a few hundred thousand others get out to decide our state’s murky future.
That future includes statewide races for governor, lieutenant governor, and some offices you probably didn’t know existed, along with legislative grudge matches, obscure county power struggles and one very important state question – SQ 832.
Anyway, I know participating in the primary election can seem like a fruitless endeavor in this Republican-supermajority-controlled state, but this time around, there’s actually a pretty good reason to put on pants and participate in society.
For SQ 832 to pass, it needs turnout.
Well, at least that’s what the people who bought all the Vote Yes on SQ 832 ads told me!
They’re not the only ones.
Last week, I was joined by Republican politician Pat McFerron – who, as you may remember, got name-dropped in our piece about Kayla Baker – as a special guest on a new podcast put together by the new owner of The Gazette.
We previewed the upcoming election, and when it came time to discuss SQ 832, he also confirmed that the state question probably won’t live or die based on persuasion, but on whether enough supporters actually remember to show up and vote.
Anyway, because I accepted money from the Vote Yes folks, I feel kind of icky officially endorsing it.
Sure, I’ve been advocating for a higher minimum wage ever since I earned $4.15 an hour sacking groceries in high school, and I’m proud to run the Vote Yes ads on this site and hope that today’s teens can earn more as a result of it, but there’s an obvious conflict of interest there. We may be an obscure local social blog that posts lingerie football portraits next to campaign finance screenshots, but we still have some standards.
That’s why, instead of officially endorsing SQ 832, we’re endorsing something even more controversial in Oklahoma politics – voting.
I know I’m preaching to a more Unitarian choir here, but even if you’re GDI like me and don’t get to vote in all the fun little bloodsport primaries, still get out and vote today.
The only way SQ 832 passes – and overcomes the built-in gravity of Oklahoma’s Republican supermajority – is with high turnout, so don’t assume someone else is going to handle democracy for you. They’re probably at work, stuck in traffic or sitting in a Braum’s drive-thru like the rest of us.
Stay with The Lost Ogle. We’ll keep you advised.
