By Journalist Amaya Brooks (OBU)
Senator Collier (OBU) is a veteran returner to the Senate this session. With many sessions under their belt, Senators sometimes can have trouble finding bills to write or finding issues they are passionate about. Senator Collier isn’t there yet and brought to the Senate’s attention today, a very real problem in the State of Oklahoma.
As the legislation stands, Oklahoma is a state that still offers the option for straight party voting on their ballots. This is an option on Oklahoma ballots that voters can check and, instead of finishing filling out their ballot, automatically votes for all candidates running in that party. Not only, as Senator Collier brought up in her author’s explanation, does this create incentives for less informed voting, but this system of voting also creates problems for missing votes. In the case that, on a ballot, there are no candidates in the party that a voter checked off, their vote in that category disappears. As Senator Boren(OU) said, “If I am a Democrat, and I vote straight ticket democrat, I am going to miss, you know, the Attorney General’s race or a state senate race that has only a Libretarian and a republican.”
There were some concerns with this piece of legislation, including the concern that this eliminates an option that allows some form of informed voting, whether or not they want to vote straight for one party or another. Senator Boren explains that, “At my first brush with the bill, I was against it. I’ve always thought of straight party voting as making voting more accessible and easier for the most voters possible.” However, upon further inquiry and due to the persuasive explanation of Senator Collier, Senator Boren later expresses his support for the bill. “Overall, it encourages voter education, while at the same time keeping it accessible for the voters who are unable to access more information about candidates.”
Senator Baca also expressed her appreciation for the bill and another concern that some people have with straight party voting, saying, “It addresses a problem with straight party voting, which is that people are so committed to their parties that they are not committed to the issues or even sometimes the people in those parties.”
This bill passed in the Senate chambers after much good and productive conversation, proving that even the simplest and most agreeable bills can still cause thought provoking engagements and debate within the Senate body.