In an interview with KOCO news, Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt urged Oklahomans to adopt California’s election system and place all candidates from all parties on a single ballot and allow all voters to participate in a summer election. Then the “top two” vote recipients would advance to the November general election, even if both candidates are from the same political party.
Holt endorsed State Question 836, which would impose California’s system on Oklahoma, saying the California system promotes officeholders who “seek pragmatic, practical outcomes that have a broad spectrum of support. We just need people in office who are talking about the economy and education and health care and issues that are important,” Holt said.
Perhaps Holt has not noticed how things actually play out in California and Oklahoma.
U.S. News ranked Oklahoma eighth-best for employment and 19th in economic growth. California ranked 46th in employment and 45th in growth.
U.S. News ranked Oklahoma government 12th-best for short-term fiscal stability. California ranked 48th.
Finance site WalletHub recently ranked states on their economic health. Oklahoma placed 30th. California ranked 47th.
Oklahoma’s top income-tax rate is falling to 4.5 percent. In California, it’s 13.3 percent. Oklahoma’s state-and-local tax burden is 10th-best (least) in the nation. California ranks 46th. Oklahoma collects $3,422 in tax collections per capita. California plunders $5,631 per capita from its citizens.
Oklahoma has been consistently ranked in the top 10 states for net migration. California is hemorrhaging population.
If economic focus is a product of a state’s election processes, Oklahoma’s system appears far superior.
In his interview, Holt seemed to suggest Oklahoma officeholders put too much emphasis on social issues. Yet California lawmakers routinely advance extreme measures.
For example, California law allows boys to use girls’ bathrooms and play on girls’ sporting teams at public schools if a male claims to identify as female. Oklahoma law does not.
California law also requires that insurance cover sex-change operations and allows men to be housed in women’s prisons.
It’s easy to compare Oklahoma and California. If voters ask which state’s election system is producing officeholders who pursue “pragmatic, practical outcomes that have a broad spectrum of support,” the answer is obvious.
Holt also bragged about supposedly overwhelming support in Oklahoma City elections, which are run using the California model, and called state leaders “bitterly unpopular.” Yet city races draw extremely low turnout on obscure dates.
In the February 2022 Oklahoma City mayoral election, Holt received 30,260 votes in Oklahoma County. In the November 2022 gubernatorial election, Gov. Kevin Stitt received 93,466 votes from Oklahoma County residents. Which number indicates broader support to you?
If the mayoral outcome represents overwhelming public support, one wonders what apathy looks like.
About the author: Jonathan Small serves as president of the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs.