Oklahoma Political News

A popular pandemic-era subsidy program that has helped offset the cost of child care for families and providers will end in April, the Oklahoma Department of Human Services announced.

The state agency said the COVID-era program, which provides a $5 per child, per day subsidy to child care providers, will end April 6.

“This temporary enhancement was funded through time-limited federal pandemic resources that are no longer available,”a DHS spokesperson said in a statement. “Sharing this update now is meant to give families and providers time to plan ahead.”

Read the full story at Oklahoma Voice.

A new political party hopes to gather enough signatures to appear on this year’s ballot.

The Sooner State Party must gather 35,000 signatures by Feb. 20 to become a recognized political party, said co-founder C.J. Webber-Neal.

Webber-Neal said supporters have gathered 22,000 signatures.

The Sooner State Party formed in July and has about 45 members, he said. If approved, the party plans to open its primaries to independent voters for every election, he said.

Read the full story at KGOU.

The state Republican Party is fracturing from within. And the Oklahoma Freedom Caucus is using the internal division to campaign against moderate party-mates, hoping to replace them with far-right Christian Nationalists. But open Republican primaries in Oklahoma could ruin the plan.

Read or listen to the full story on KOSU.org.

The Oklahoma State Board of Education violated open meeting laws, the Court decided

Controversial academic standards for social studies are unenforceable because Oklahoma’s top school board violated state open meeting laws when approving them, the state Supreme Court decided Tuesday.

Five of the Court’s nine justices decided to permanently nullify the social studies standards, which had sought to require public schools to teach Bible stories and highly questioned claims about the 2020 presidential election and COVID-19. The standards were already on hold because of a temporary stay from the Court in September.

Members of the Oklahoma State Board of Education and the public didn’t receive adequate notice from a meeting agenda that the board’s Feb. 27 vote would involve standards that were “fundamentally different” from an earlier draft, according to the opinion written by Justice James E. Edmondson. This violated the Oklahoma Open Meeting Act, the Court decided.

Read the full story at Oklahoma Voice.

Oklahoma’s State Election Board announced there will be no open primaries in 2026.

The Oklahoma Democratic Party has allowed registered Independents to vote in its primary elections since 2016. Although the party voted to once again open its elections in 2026 and 2027, the election board announced Wednesday that won’t happen due to missing paperwork.

The State Election Board says the Democratic Party did not file the paperwork to open its primaries for the next two years between Nov. 1 and Nov. 30, as required by state law.

A Democratic Party spokesperson said party officials voted in June to continue with open primaries and notified the Election Board of that decision in early August. According to a press release from the Democrats, the party did not receive further communication on the matter between then and Wednesday’s announcement from the Election Board.

Read the full story at KOSU.org.

Saying the issue is now moot, Oklahoma’s highest court dismissed a lawsuit challenging a requirement that public schools keep Bibles in classrooms and teach from them.

In a 6-2 decision, the Oklahoma Supreme Court wrote Monday that newly appointed state Superintendent Lindel Fields and the six new members of the Oklahoma State Board of Education said they planned to nullify a 2024 mandate requiring Bible usage in schools. The new education leaders also told the justices that they were not pursuing other mandates issued by former state Superintendent Ryan Walters that would use taxpayer money to purchase classroom Bibles or “biblically-based character education materials.”

Read the full story at Oklahoma Voice.

Edmond residents voted Tuesday to continue a one-cent General Fund sales tax and a half-cent 2017 capital improvement sales tax for another 10 years. The General Fund tax supports city operations including police and fire departments, while the capital improvement tax will be directed solely toward road improvements — a narrowing of its purpose compared to prior decade.

Read the full story at NonDoc.

Oklahoma Supreme Court justices on Tuesday questioned attorneys about the burdens of a new law that puts more restrictions on the process used to get issues on the ballot.

“At some point, the burdens pile up and it becomes an undue burden,” said Justice Noma Gurich.

People will not try to get things on the ballot with all of the additional burdens placed on the process by the new law, said Randall Yates, an attorney representing those who filed the lawsuit.

Last session, lawmakers passed and Gov. Kevin Stitt signed Senate Bill 1027, forcing initiative petition signature collectors to visit several Oklahoma counties rather than concentrate on high-population areas.

Read the full story at Oklahoma Voice.

As residents reel amid disruptions to the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, local Edmond nonprofits are rising to meet increased demand in the community. Organizations such as Project 66 and Breakfast on Boulevard have been forced to increase food purchases to account for an influx of patrons seeking assistance.

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In Oklahoma, one in six residents relies on SNAP, among the highest rates in the United States. Edmond resident Kaysie Billey is among those who supplement their food access with the federal program.

Read the full story at NonDoc.

Supporters of an effort to open the state’s primary voting system on Wednesday began gathering signatures.

They have until Jan. 28 to collect 172,993 signatures to get State Question 836 on the ballot.

Supporters are aiming to get the measure on the November 2026 ballot, said A.J. Griffin, a former Republican state senator who is volunteering.

If approved by voters, all candidates for an office would appear on a single primary ballot. Every voter, regardless of party registration, could participate.

The top two finishers, regardless of partisan affiliation, would advance to the general election.

Read the full story at Oklahoma Voice.