20 February 2025
By Vanessa Drummond, Bartlesville
As someone who cares deeply about education, I believe that what we teach our children — both in the classroom and through the example we set in our communities — matters.
We tell young people that their voices are important, that they should pay attention to the world around them, and that civic engagement is essential to a functioning democracy. But the reality of Oklahoma’s election system tells them something very different.
Our closed primary system actively discourages civic participation, making voters feel like their voices don’t count. That’s a dangerous lesson to teach the next generation, and it’s one of the many reasons I support State Question 836, a ballot initiative to replace Oklahoma’s
closed partisan primaries with an open primary system.
As parents, we encourage students to study government and history, to form their own opinions and to get involved in their communities.
Yet, when they register to vote in Oklahoma, many quickly learn that they are shut out of the most important elections.
Right now, independent voters — who make up nearly 20% of our electorate — cannot vote in most primary elections. The Democratic Party opened its primaries to registered independents through the 2025 elections, but there is no guarantee that will continue.
This is a problem because, in Oklahoma, the primary is often the only election that truly matters. In many races, the general election is uncompetitive or uncontested, meaning the outcome was effectively decided months earlier in a primary that excluded a large percentage of voters.
What message does this send to first-time voters? That their voices do not matter? That the system isn’t built for them? That politics is only for insiders and party loyalists?
These are the wrong lessons, and they are contributing to a growing sense of disillusionment among young people.
Beyond the exclusion of independent voters, Oklahoma’s closed primary system also deepens political polarization. When candidates know that only their party’s most loyal voters will be participating in the primary, they are incentivized to appeal to the extremes of their base rather than focus on solutions that can unite and benefit the broader public.
This is one of the biggest reasons why it feels like our politics is more divisive than ever.
When primary elections are not open to all voters, they do not produce candidates who are accountable to the entire community; they produce candidates who are accountable only to the party insiders who show up in low-turnout primaries.
The result? Gridlock, partisanship and political leaders who fail to represent the full range of perspectives in their districts.
For those of us who care about education, this has real consequences. Teachers, parents and administrators need serious, thoughtful leadership at every level of government —leaders who understand that improving our schools is not a partisan issue but a community issue. Instead, we have a system that rewards ideological purity and discourages compromise.
SQ 836 would end Oklahoma’s closed primaries and replace them with an open primary system where all candidates — Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians and independents — appear on a single ballot. Every voter, regardless of party affiliation, would have the right to vote in this election. The top two candidates would then advance to the general election.
This change would restore power to the voters, ensure that every election is meaningful and encourage candidates to speak to the entire electorate — not just their party’s base. It’s a fair, commonsense reform that will make Oklahoma’s elections more inclusive and more representative.