Oklahoma Libertarian Party

The Oklahoma Libertarian Party is the Oklahoma affiliate of the Libertarian Party.

Oklahoma Libertarian Party
General Information
Chartered:	April 1972
Region:	7
Officers
Chair:	Erin Adams
Vice-Chair:	Christina Wright
Secretary:	Traci Baker
Treasurer:	Chad Williams
Contact
Website:	Website
Social Media
Facebook:	Facebook
Twitter:	Twitter

Oklahoma Caucus

At one of the national conventions in the 70's the Oklahoma delegation announced on more than one occasion during the proceedings that they were going to go caucus, a phrase which in reality meant they were going to go to a second location and smoke marijuana. This rapidly became known as the Oklahoma Caucus which then evolved into a regular, if informal, event at national conventions where various esteemed Libertarians of the Sooner State would lead discussion of LP history and issues with all who cared to attend. The Oklahoma Caucus was last held as recently as 2002, hosted that year by Robert Murphy.

Primaries

The OKLP has been very active in seeking to use the state's primary system to draw attention to the party. When achieving ballot access for the first time in 1980, the party had primaries for the 5th Congressional District, won by Jim Rushing over Frank Robinson, and for Tulsa County Clerk. Oklahoma had a closed primary system until 1987 when a semi-closed system was adopted, allowing parties to include registered Independents if they so chose. Agnes Regier defeated Mike Clem in 1996 for the U.S. Senate nomination with well over two-thirds of the votes coming from Independents. In 2000 three Libertarians faced each other for the nomination for Corporation Commission, with Whitney Boutin and Roger Bloxham advancing to a runoff. However, Boutin withdrew in order to allow Bloxham to become the nominee, a move that saved the state over $200,000 and generated positive press attention. When the OKLP again achieved ballot access in 2016 Dax Ewbanks and Robert Murphy faced off for the U.S. Senate nomination. Murphy went so far as to endorse Ewbanks, but both Independent and Libertarian voters were largely unfamiliar with the two candidates and Murphy won with 59%.

The party was on the ballot for a gubernatorial election for the first time in 2018. Three candidates sought the gubernatorial nomination in what appears to be the first genuinely contested primary for the OKLP. No candidate received a majority in the primary on June 26th, putting Chris Powell and Rex Lawhorn in a runoff that Powell won on August 28th. This appears to have been the first Libertarian Party runoff primary in the nation.

Lawsuits

Arutunoff v. Oklahoma State Election Board

The OKLP challenged revocation of their official recognition, and ability to run candidates under the party label, by the state after the 1980 elections. State law required a party's presidential candidate to receive at least 10% of the vote to maintain ballot access. The 10th Circuit upheld the ruling against the OKLP.

Rainbow Coalition v. Oklahoma State Election Board

The Rainbow Coalition, OKLP, and the Populist Party sought to overturn the state's onerous ballot access law, challenging both the petitioning deadline and the signature requirement. The 10th Circuit upheld Judge Stephanie Seymour's decision against the plaintiffs that upheld the ballot access law. No state has had fewer presidential candidates on the November ballot in any election since that ruling in 1988. Interestingly, Seymour had written a dissenting opinion in Arutunoff v. Oklahoma State Election Board, citing the difficult signature requirement for a party to obtain ballot access. Another aspect of the case was that Seymour ruled against requiring the state to allow voters to continue to register affiliation with previously recognized parties, the opposite of her ruling in the Colorado case Baer v. Meyer, citing the fact that Oklahoma, unlike Colorado, did not have it's voter database computerized.

Atherton v. Ward

After the OKLP lost official recognition following the 1996 election the state election board changed the affiliation of all registered Libertarian voters to Independent. During the time since the ruling in Rainbow Coalition v. Oklahoma State Election Board the state's voter rolls had been completely computerized. Oklahoma Libertarians sought to be able to continue to be registered with their party of choice. Judge Wayne Alley ruled in favor of the party. The resulting process was that once a party fails to retain ballot access all those registered with the party are changed to Independent but any voter would be allowed to register with the previously recognized party for up to four years after they lost official status. In 2003 Ed Henke sought to be a candidate in a special election for state Senate but was prohibited from filing because of his Libertarian registration.

Clingman v. Beaver

Oklahoma has a semi-closed primary system in which a political party may choose either to allow only voters registered as affiliated with the party to participate or to also allow Independents as well. The OKLP wanted the ability to more fully exercise their freedom of association by allowing voters registered with any other party to also participate in their primaries. The party won on appeal but the case then went to the U.S. Supreme Court where the decision of the 10th Circuit was overturned.

Lawhorn v. Ziriax

The only alternative party to have ballot access for the 2012 United States presidential election in Oklahoma was the Americans Elect party which was not fielding a candidate. Leadership of the state party organization for Americans Elect, including chair Rex Lawhorn, sought to have Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson placed on the Oklahoma ballot as the Americans Elect candidate. The national party organization opposed the effort and the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled against Lawhorn. This resulted in Oklahoma voters being allowed only two choices for President for the third election in a row.

Tattooing

Oklahoma remains the only state in the Union which has a ban on tattooing. In the recent years, the OKLP have been major proponents of the various bills in the house and senate which would decriminalize tattooing; however, an ultra-conservative legislature have always struck the bills down. In 2004, the Oklahoma Senate passed SB 806 30-15 which would decriminalize tattooing; however, the sister HB 1519 foundered in the house due to the Republican leader not allowing it to be heard. The OKLP continues to push for the full legalization of tattooing. Opponents claim that by legalizing tattooing, it will spread diseases such as HIV which causes AIDS; however, the OKLP asserts the libertarian ideal of bringing tattooing into the free market. By bringing it into the free market, just like illegal drugs, reputable businesses will compete to provide a low-cost, healthy, and secure product and service. The law was changed by the state legislature but is extremely restrictive and has been issued legal challenges by tattoo artists.

Tobacco Tax

The OKLP vehemently oppose the state's recent trend of intruding on the individual's right to smoke tobacco. The OKLP protested, lobbied, and got the message out about the crippling effects of an increased tax on tobacco; however, the 49th Legislature ratified HB 2660 which dramatically hiked the tax up on tobacco products.

Ballot Access

The largest hurdle for the OKLP is access to the ballot. Richard Winger of Ballot Access News, who is the nation's foremost expert on 3rd party politics agrees that Oklahoma has the strictest laws in the nation with regard to access to the ballot for 3rd parties. Oklahoma' Democrat and Republican parties essentially have a state run monopoly. The state is decided evenly along partisan districts and the two parties rarely offer each other any competition in the elections. In 2006 more than half of the Oklahoma State House seats went unchallenged.

In 2004 there were only two choices for President in Oklahoma, Senator John Kerry or President George W. Bush. In the same year Afghanistan had 18!! Not only is Oklahoma the hardest state to get on the ballot in America, but in countries that most people would think would be much more restrictive. The last election in Iraq, they fielded over 350 Presidential candidates! America is spreading Democracy around the world while forgetting to protect Democracy at home.

In 2004 the LP of OK filed a lawsuit, claiming the ballot access laws were unconstitutional. The lawsuit was appealed to the Oklahoma State Supreme Court, who refused to hear their case in February of 2007.

Paul Jacob faced charges related to ballot access efforts in Oklahoma. The events surrounding this were chronicled at freepauljacob.com.

In 2014 legislation lowered the signature requirement for new parties to get on the ballot from 5% of the number of votes cast for president or governor in the previous general election to 3%. This made it easier for the OKLP to regain ballot access in 2016. In 2016 legislation reduced the vote percentage necessary to retain ballot access from 10% down to 2.5%. Gary Johnson's 5.7% result in the state marked the first time the OKLP has been able to stay on the ballot and the first time for any alternative party to do so in twenty years. E. Zachary Knight, OKLP 5th district congressional candidate in 2016, and Oklahomans for Ballot Access Reform are to be credited for pushing these legislative changes.

Officeholders

• David Greer Dougherty City Council 2018-2020

Past Officials and Staff

Chair

• D. Frank Robinson (founding chair)
• Tom Laurent (1973)
• Porter Davis (1976)
• Loren L. Baker (1978)
• Gordon Mobley (1984)
• Fred Litzaw (1987)
• Charles A. Burris (1988)
• Matt Sweet (c 1994)
• Mike Todd (c 1995)
• Mike Clem (1998)
• Robert Murphy
• Richard Prawdzienski (2001-2003)
• Chris Powell (2003-2005)
• Steve Galpin (2005)
• Jimmy Cook
• Angelia O'Dell (c 2009)
• Tina Kelly (2016—March 31, 2018)
• Erin Adams (March 31, 2018—present)

Other

• Larry Brittain , treasurer (c. 2008)
  
• Jimmy Cook, vice chair (c. 2009)
  
• David Splinter, vice chair
  
• Robert Stock, secretary
  
• Tom Laurent, secretary (1980)
  
• Loren Baker, Vice-chair (1987)
• Mary Laurent, Secretary (1987)
• Brenda Bromily, Treasurer (1987)
• Bailey Betts, Vice Chair
• Christina Wright, Secretary
• Ron Phillips, Treasurer

Elections

See: Libertarian Party of Oklahoma Historical Election Results

Size and Influence

Year	Minimum Unique Voters	Minimum Percent Of Voters	Registered Voters (Oct/Nov)	Percent of Registered Voters	Signature Members (Dec)	Signature Members Per Million Population	LNC Total Donors 2004 - 2016 Or Active Members 1972 - 2003 (Dec)	LNC Donors Per Million Population	State Rank Of Total LNC Donors (Of 51)
2017					1,082	275	146	37.14	31
2016	83,481	5.75%	3,599	0.17%	1,169	298	187	47.66	32
2015					1,038	265	89	22.75	34
2014	9,125	1.11%			1,023	264	90	23.21	36
2013					989	257	109	28.29	34
2012	16,921	1.27%			960	252	109	28.56	34
2011					907	240	100	26.41	34
2010	48,723	4.67%			888	236	113	30.06	33
2009					855	230	108	29.05	34
2008	1,161	0.08%			810	221	126	34.34	34
2007					765	210	116	31.92	33
2006					724	201	71	19.75	35
2005					659	186	106	29.87	34
2004	3,138	0.21%	689	0.03%			(Aug) 153	43.40	33
2003							128	36.52	35
2002	63,093	6.09%	286	0.01%			153	43.85	34
2001							190	54.80	33
2000	23,253	1.88%	703	0.03%			226	65.42	33
1999							195	58.07	35
1998							185	55.40	34
1997							122	36.81	38
1996	14,595	1.20%	141	0.01%			128	38.91	37
1995							72	22.05	37
1994							59	18.18	37
1993							46	14.25	36
1992	4,486	0.31%					63	19.66	36
1991							53	16.74	36
1990							36	11.44	42
1989							35	11.11	37
1988	6,261	0.52%					42	13.26	33
1987
1986
1985
1984	27,048	2.10%	444	0.02%
1983
1982	14,627	1.62%
1981
1980	13,828	1.18%	875	0.06%
1979
1978	255	0.03%
1977
1976	2,867	0.26%
1975
1974
1973
1972

External Links

• The OKLP Website
• The OKLP Facebook Page
• recent article about OKLP