I Abstain: Why I Refuse to Vote in Judicial Retention Elections

Every two years, certain judges are placed on the ballot for a simple yes/no retention vote. These elections stem from Oklahoma’s judicial selection method, and ask voters whether they want to keep, or retain, certain judges. Elections are staggered so judges only face retention every six years. However, not a single judge has been voted out in the fifty-plus years since retention elections were instituted.

I would wager that the majority of Oklahoma voters, including me, a relatively informed voter, know next to nothing about the judges that come up for retention votes. That is unsurprising, considering most people don’t have the time to research and evaluate the legal philosophy and judicial track record of every judge. Thus, a look at election results from the past few elections tell a simple story: a majority vote yes on all of the judges, a decent minority vote no on all of them, while only a small fraction do research and make informed votes. To be clear, I am not lambasting Oklahomans for being uninformed. Many people I know personally vote “No” on all retention elections no matter who it is. I used to vote “No” by default as well. The problem is, it doesn’t matter how informed you are. The judicial selection system we use is extremely flawed, thus rendering your vote meaningless.

Consider the following:

Family beats any government program

For this year’s annual Citizenship Award Dinner, the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs was honored to have sports journalist Jason Whitlock as our keynote speaker. Whitlock is known for his refreshing takes on sports and social issues and didn’t disappoint.

While he touched on several topics, Whitlock, who is black, noted that those who suggest police are routinely killing innocent black men are ignoring data that show he is more likely to be shot by someone in his local neighborhood than by the police. He also noted that pop cultural influences have played a huge role in influencing youth to pursue lifestyles that end badly. Such influences are often more impactful than the “systemic racism” proclaimed by academics.

Whitlock’s comments brought to mind the “success sequence” identified by researchers with the left-wing Brookings Institution, who found individuals who do three things typically become middle-class earners.

OKLAHOMA CITY (May 13, 2021)— A state budget agreement reached Thursday maintains all state core service funding, provides tax relief to individuals and businesses, and makes targeted new investments in key priorities like education, economic development, health care and infrastructure. The agreement also replenishes more than $700 million in state reserve funds that were significantly reduced to offset pandemic-related revenue reductions last year.

Under the agreement, the appropriated Fiscal Year 2022 budget would be $8.3 billion.

The high-level agreement, which is still being finalized between the Legislature and Gov. Kevin Stitt:

Click here for more details on the legislative redistricting maps

OKLAHOMA CITY – The Oklahoma House of Representatives and the Oklahoma Senate each in bipartisan and overwhelming votes on Wednesday approved new legislative district maps [more info and roll call votes: House redistricting, Senate redistricting].

By law, the Legislature must redraw its legislative and congressional district boundaries to reflect changes in population every 10 years immediately following the decennial Census. Under the Oklahoma Constitution, redistricting plans for state legislative districts must be completed by the end of this year’s regular session.

“At the outset, we pledged to have an open and transparent redistricting process and we delivered. At every turn, we engaged with the public and sought their input in the redistricting process as part of our commitment to transparency. The results were maps that are more compact and better than the current legislative boundaries,” said Sen. Lonnie Paxton, R-Tuttle and chair of the Senate Select Committee on Redistricting.

“The new redistricting boundaries ensure each Oklahoman has an equal voice in state and national government for the next ten years,” said. Rep. Ryan Martinez, R-Edmond and chair of the House Redistricting committee. “This year, every member of the House served on a redistricting committee, and over 20 public meetings, including virtual, were held to get as much input as possible into this important process. I’m glad to send these plans to the governor’s desk so they can be signed into law and fully implemented.”

OKLAHOMA CITY – The governor today signed a bill that will prohibit Oklahoma public schools, colleges and universities from teaching “Critical Race Theory” and from requiring mandatory gender or sexual diversity training or counseling.

House Bill 1775 is authored by Rep. Kevin West, R-Moore.

“I’m grateful to the governor for seeing the need for signing this crucial legislation,” West said. “Already, this harmful indoctrination has infiltrated Oklahoma schools from as early as pre-kindergarten classrooms all the way through college courses. Some of our state universities currently are requiring this mandatory training for their freshman students.”

West notes that much of the curriculum, often referred to as “Critical Race Theory” is based on Marxist ideology that is designed to teach children to hate American exceptionalism and distrust others based on skin color or sex. Additionally it teaches that most laws and systems in America are historically rooted in the racist oppression of people of color and other marginalized groups. It promotes the theory of implicit bias and inherent racism due to one’s skin color.

Starting a bonfire with your money

Do you think the problem with state government is agencies are too small and inexpensive? Perhaps Republicans in the Oklahoma House of Representatives do, because they’ve voted to increase the number of state employees by more than 1,000 and dramatically boost the cost of Medicaid expansion.

Due to passage of an initiative petition, Oklahoma’s Medicaid program will add hundreds of thousands of able-bodied adults to the rolls starting in July, costing anywhere from $164 million to $374 million based on estimates.

But now House Republicans have voted to further boost the added cost by up to another $277 million per year. That should leave all citizens shaking their heads—especially since another option exists.

Gov. Kevin Stitt has called for contracting with private managed care companies that would be paid a fee to oversee implementation of Medicaid benefits. Those companies would direct patients to preventative care and early treatment, which costs less, ultimately reducing expensive hospitalizations. If costs exceed what the private companies are paid, the private company pays the difference, protecting Oklahoma taxpayers from price shocks.

But House Republicans have voted to instead have the Oklahoma Health Care Authority (OHCA) handle cost-control internally. If the OHCA doesn’t control costs, there are no financial penalties for failure. In fact, the agency would probably ask for more funding.

But that’s not the worst of it.

GOVERNOR STITT WITHDRAWS COVID-19 STATE OF EMERGENCY DECLARATION

OKLAHOMA CITY (May 3, 2021) – Governor Kevin Stitt today signed Executive Order 2021-11 to withdraw and rescind the COVID-19 State of Emergency effective Tuesday, May 4.

In a video message, Gov. Stitt pointed out that Oklahoma’s 7-day average of new cases is down 94% from its peak and among the lowest per capita rates in the country. Stitt also mentioned that hospitalizations are down 90% and are stable.

The governor said his decision was made possible by the collective actions taken by Oklahomans over the past year.