A recent decision by the Oklahoma Supreme Court effectively provided the green light for an initiative petition that would completely upend Oklahoma elections, replacing our system with the one used in California and Washington states.

Oklahoma’s current election system allows Republican voters to pick Republican nominees in party primaries while Democratic voters do the same. The two parties’ candidates then face off in the November general election along with any independent candidates who file.

But a group calling itself Oklahoma United wants to eliminate that system through State Question 836 and instead require that all candidates – Democrats, Republicans and independents – be placed on a single primary ballot with all voters participating and the “top two” candidates advancing to the general.

In practice, SQ 836’s model can reduce voters’ November choices to two candidates from the same party. This has often been the case in California. Kamala Harris was elected to the U.S. Senate in California in a general election that pitted her against another Democrat.

Had the California model been used in Oklahoma in 2018, the governor’s race that November would have pitted Democrat Drew Edmondson against Democrat Connie Johnson. Because multiple strong candidates ran for governor as Republicans that year, they split the Republican vote enough that Edmondson and Johnson would have been the “top two” vote recipients despite most votes being cast for a Republican in the primary.

Under the SB 836 system, incumbent U.S. Reps. Kevin Hern of Tulsa and Stephanie Bice of Oklahoma City would not be members of Congress. Both finished second in their primaries and became the Republican nominee in runoff elections.

It’s impossible to retroactively determine how election outcomes might have changed with different nominees, but if those two seats flipped to Democrat control because of the California system it likely would have tipped control of Congress to Democrats this year.

Supporters of SQ 836 claim it will produce more “moderate” candidates. Do the elected politicians in California and Washington state seem moderate to you?

Supporters also claim SQ 836 empowers registered independent voters. Yet SQ 836 almost guarantees that no independent candidate will ever be placed on a general-election ballot again. Not one independent is serving in statewide or legislative office in California or Washington.

Put simply, the California model makes governments far more left leaning, regardless of the wishes of the voting majority.

The advocates trying to swindle Oklahomans into adopting this California voting model should be honest and admit it is an attempt to give far-left ideas, and those who advance them, a better chance to win in Oklahoma without strong majority support. SQ 836 is a naked attempt to help far-left Democrats seize control of Congress. If this effort advances in Oklahoma, it will quickly proliferate to other red states.

About the author: Jonathan Small serves as president of the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs.