Oklahoma Libertarian Party

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Oklahoma Libertarian Party
LPOKblk.jpg
General Information
Chartered: April 1972
Region: 7
Officers
Chair: Chris Powell
Vice-Chair: Dillon Feazel
Secretary: Ashley Sowder
Treasurer: John Hooper
Contact
Website: Website
Social Media
Facebook: Facebook
Twitter: Twitter

The Oklahoma Libertarian Party (OKLP) or Libertarian Party of Oklahoma, which are both in the party bylaws[1], is the Oklahoma affiliate of the Libertarian Party. It was affiliated in 1972 (1972 Membership Application).

State Executive Committee

The State Executive Committee consists of four officers, four At-Large Representatives, and up to seven Regional Representatives, for a maximum of fifteen members. Officers and At-Large Representatives are elected every odd year at the state party convention; Regional Representatives are chosen by their respective regional committees or regional convention delegates. It meets at least quarterly but more recently has begun having monthly online meetings.

Historical Addresses

  • PO Box 25517, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, 73101 (1973)

Current Members

Governing Documents

Platform

For historical platforms see Index of Oklahoma State Party Platforms

Bylaws

For historical bylaws see Index of Oklahoma State Party Bylaws

Oklahoma Caucus

The opening session of the 1973 Libertarian National Convention was a discussion of how to use issues to generate public support. Stephen Browne, fresh off of getting 21% of the vote running for city council in Norman, OK, experienced some frustration with the audience's lack of interest in the nuts and bolts of retail campaigning. During the proceedings Browne, Tom and Mary Laurent and others of the Oklahoma delegation announced that they were going to go caucus, a phrase which in reality meant they were going to go to a second location and smoke marijuana. This rapidly became known as the Oklahoma Caucus which then evolved into a regular, if informal, event at national conventions where various esteemed Libertarians of the Sooner State would lead discussion of LP history and issues with all who cared to attend. The Oklahoma Caucus was last held as recently as 2002, hosted that year by Robert Murphy.

Newsletters

Primaries

The OKLP has been very active in seeking to use the state's primary system to draw attention to the party. When achieving ballot access for the first time in 1980, the party had primaries for the 5th Congressional District, won by Jim Rushing over Frank Robinson, and for Tulsa County Clerk. Oklahoma had a closed primary system until 1987 when a semi-closed system was adopted, allowing parties to include registered Independents if they so chose. Agnes Regier defeated Mike Clem in 1996 for the U.S. Senate nomination with well over two-thirds of the votes coming from Independents. In 2000 three Libertarians faced each other for the nomination for Corporation Commission, with Whitney Boutin and Roger Bloxham advancing to a runoff. However, Boutin withdrew in order to allow Bloxham to become the nominee, a move that saved the state over $200,000 and generated positive press attention. When the OKLP again achieved ballot access in 2016 Dax Ewbanks and Robert Murphy faced off for the U.S. Senate nomination. Murphy went so far as to endorse Ewbanks, but both Independent and Libertarian voters were largely unfamiliar with the two candidates and Murphy won with 59%.

The party was on the ballot for a gubernatorial election for the first time in 2018. Three candidates sought the gubernatorial nomination in what appears to be the first genuinely contested primary for the OKLP. No candidate received a majority in the primary on June 26th, putting Chris Powell and Rex Lawhorn in a runoff that Powell won on August 28th. This appears to have been the first Libertarian Party runoff primary in the nation.

Lawsuits

1976

The campaign of Eugene McCarthy won a ruling from the Oklahoma Supreme Court to place it's Independent electors on the ballot. The American Party, Communist Party, and OKLP all sought to have their candidates and electors put on the ballot as well. The Court ruled against the American Party, distinguishing between an Independent candidate and a candidate of a political party that has not met the requirements for recognition in the state of Oklahoma. Justice John Doolin's opinion disregarded that the electors were registered Independent, agreeing with Assistant Attorney General Michael Cauthron that "You can't proclaim you're independent in Oklahoma while running as a party man in another state." After ruling against the American Party, the Court saw no need to hear similar cases brought by the Communist Party and the OKLP. Peter Clinton Moore was the attorney for the OKLP in that case.

Arutunoff v. Oklahoma State Election Board

The OKLP challenged revocation of their official recognition, and ability to run candidates under the party label, by the state after the 1980 elections. State law required a party's presidential candidate to receive at least 10% of the vote to maintain ballot access. The 10th Circuit upheld the ruling against the OKLP.

1984 cases

With just 90 days to gather over 44 thousand signatures and hampered by both bad weather and harassment over petitioning at public buildings, the OKLP went to court to try to gain ballot access for the 1984 elections. The party won by default when the Attorney General's office missed a deadline to file a response during the proceedings and was allowed to nominate candidates by convention. After obtaining ballot status, the party also unsuccessfully challenged state law that guaranteed the top line on the ballot to the Democrats. The ballot order law would be overturned ten years later in response to legal action by Republicans, resulting in the current system of determining ballot order by lottery.

Two petitioners were arrested and a third ticketed while gathering signatures at the State Fairgrounds. Ballot drive chairman D. Frank Robinson challenged the legality of the arrests, resulting in a ruling from Judge David Russell upholding the right to petition on public property.

Rainbow Coalition v. Oklahoma State Election Board

The Rainbow Coalition, OKLP, and the Populist Party sought to overturn the state's onerous ballot access law, challenging both the petitioning deadline and the signature requirement. The 10th Circuit upheld Judge Stephanie Seymour's decision against the plaintiffs that upheld the ballot access law. No state has had fewer presidential candidates on the November ballot in any election since that ruling in 1988. Interestingly, Seymour had written a dissenting opinion in Arutunoff v. Oklahoma State Election Board, citing the difficult signature requirement for a party to obtain ballot access. Another aspect of the case was that Seymour ruled against requiring the state to allow voters to continue to register affiliation with previously recognized parties, the opposite of her ruling in the Colorado case Baer v. Meyer, citing the fact that Oklahoma, unlike Colorado, did not have it's voter database computerized.

Atherton v. Ward

After the OKLP lost official recognition following the 1996 election the state election board changed the affiliation of all registered Libertarian voters to Independent. During the time since the ruling in Rainbow Coalition v. Oklahoma State Election Board the state's voter rolls had been completely computerized. Oklahoma Libertarians sought to be able to continue to be registered with their party of choice. Judge Wayne Alley ruled in favor of the party. The resulting process was that once a party fails to retain ballot access all those registered with the party are changed to Independent but any voter would be allowed to register with the previously recognized party for up to four years after they lost official status. In 2003 Ed Henke sought to be a candidate in a special election for state Senate but was prohibited from filing because of his Libertarian registration.

Clingman v. Beaver

Oklahoma has a semi-closed primary system in which a political party may choose either to allow only voters registered as affiliated with the party to participate or to also allow Independents as well. The OKLP wanted the ability to more fully exercise their freedom of association by allowing voters registered with any other party to also participate in their primaries. The party won on appeal but the case then went to the U.S. Supreme Court where the decision of the 10th Circuit was overturned.

Yes on Term Limits v. Savage

Former Libertarian Party national director Paul Jacob worked with Oklahomans in Action to gather signatures on an initiative to put a Taxpayer Bill of Rights measure on the ballot for a statewide vote. In 2007 Jacob and two others were indicted for out-of-state petitioners. A conviction would have carried a maximum fine of $25,000, and the maximum jail sentence of ten years in prison. The state statute criminalizing the hiring of out-of-state petitioners was overturned by the 10th Circuit followed by a denial of Attorney General Drew Edmondson's request for an en banc rehearing at which point the charges were dropped as the statute was unenforceable.

Oklahoma Libertarian Party v. Ziriax

After gathering over 57 thousand signatures to meet the requirement of 51,739 to obtain ballot access for the 2012 elections, the OKLP sought a preliminary injunction due to a the deadline to submit the petition being moved up to March 1st from May 1st. Judge Timothy D. DeGiusti denied the injunction, resulting in the OKLP not being able to place candidates on the ballot in 2012. The March 1st petition deadline for political parties remains in place.

Lawhorn v. Ziriax

The only alternative party to have ballot access for the 2012 United States presidential election in Oklahoma was the Americans Elect party which was not fielding a candidate. Leadership of the state party organization for Americans Elect, including chair Rex Lawhorn, sought to have Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson placed on the Oklahoma ballot as the Americans Elect candidate. The national party organization opposed the effort and the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled against Lawhorn. This resulted in Oklahoma voters being allowed only two choices for President for the third election in a row.

McCraw v. Oklahoma City

The OKLP joined several other individuals and organizations in challenging an ordinance enacted by the City of Oklahoma City to restrict panhandling. OKLP Vice-Chair Tina Kelly was involved in the case as it pertained to restricting the ability to engage in political petitioning. The city amended the ordinance to focus on pedestrian safety. In December, 2018, Judge Joe Heaton upheld the ordinance but the plaintiffs promised to appeal. On August 31, 2020, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the district court’s entry of judgment for the City on all plaintiffs’ First Amendment claims. On May 29, 2021, the US Supreme Court declined to hear the City's appeal of the 10th Circuit's ruling.

Tattooing

In 2006, Oklahoma became the last state to legalize tattoos, ending a ban which had been in effect since 1963. The OKLP was a major proponent of bills in the house and senate to decriminalize tattooing, asserting the libertarian idea that by bringing tattooing into the free market, reputable businesses would be able to compete to provide a low-cost, safe, and secure product and service. However, an ultra-conservative legislature routinely struck the bills down, with opponents claiming that legalizing tattooing would spread diseases such as HIV. SB806, giving the Department of Health oversight of tattooing in the state, went into effect on November 1, 2006.

Tobacco Tax

The OKLP vehemently oppose the state's recent trend of intruding on the individual's right to smoke tobacco. The OKLP protested, lobbied, and got the message out about the crippling effects of an increased tax on tobacco; however, the 49th Legislature ratified HB 2660 which dramatically hiked the tax up on tobacco products.

Ballot Access

The largest hurdle for the OKLP is access to the ballot. Richard Winger of Ballot Access News, who is the nation's foremost expert on 3rd party politics agrees that Oklahoma has the strictest laws in the nation with regard to access to the ballot for 3rd parties. Oklahoma' Democrat and Republican parties essentially have a state run monopoly. The state is decided evenly along partisan districts and the two parties rarely offer each other any competition in the elections. In 2006 more than half of the Oklahoma State House seats went unchallenged.

In 2004 there were only two choices for President in Oklahoma, Senator John Kerry or President George W. Bush. In the same year Afghanistan had 18!! Not only is Oklahoma the hardest state to get on the ballot in America, but in countries that most people would think would be much more restrictive. The last election in Iraq, they fielded over 350 Presidential candidates! America is spreading Democracy around the world while forgetting to protect Democracy at home.

In 2004 the LP of OK filed a lawsuit, claiming the ballot access laws were unconstitutional. The lawsuit was appealed to the Oklahoma State Supreme Court, who refused to hear their case in February of 2007.

Paul Jacob faced charges related to ballot access efforts in Oklahoma. The events surrounding this were chronicled at freepauljacob.com.

In 2014 legislation lowered the signature requirement for new parties to get on the ballot from 5% of the number of votes cast for president or governor in the previous general election to 3%. This made it easier for the OKLP to regain ballot access in 2016. In 2016 legislation reduced the vote percentage necessary to retain ballot access from 10% down to 2.5%. Gary Johnson's 5.7% result in the state marked the first time the OKLP has been able to stay on the ballot and the first time for any alternative party to do so in twenty years. E. Zachary Knight, OKLP 5th district congressional candidate in 2016, and Oklahomans for Ballot Access Reform are to be credited for pushing these legislative changes.

Officeholders

David Greer accepted an appointment to the Dougherty City Council in 2018, becoming the first Libertarian in Oklahoma to hold elective office. On April 2nd, 2019, Chad Williams was elected to Choctaw City Council and Josh Clark was elected to Dale School Board, becoming the first Libertarians in Oklahoma to win an election to public office. Chris Powell won a special election on Nov. 12, 2019, for a seat on the Bethany City Council and was re-elected to that seat in 2021 with 76.3% of the vote. 2021 also saw Troy Brooks win a seat on the Alva City Council.

Past Officials and Staff

Chairs

Other

Elections

See: Libertarian Party of Oklahoma Historical Election Results

The earliest known Libertarian to run for office in Oklahoma was Stephen W. Browne who received 1,144(21.47%) votes for Post 3 on the non-partisan Norman City Council in 1973. The most frequent LP candidate on the ballot is Robert Murphy who has run for Mayor of Norman once, Mayor of Tulsa twice, US Senate three times, and US Congress five times(thrice in CD5 and once each in CD4 and CD3). He also was a candidate in Virginia's CD8 in 1990. The top percentage in a partisan race under the Libertarian label was 36.43% for Chris Powell in 2016 running for Oklahoma County Clerk. The high mark for a Libertarian running under the Independent label when the party did not have ballot access was in 1982 when Virginia Henson received 37.21% for District Attorney in District 23. The best percentage for a non-partisan race is Chris Powell's 63.23% in a special election for Bethany City Council in 2019. John Yeutter holds the record for highest raw vote total with 270,313(24.82%) for State Auditor in 2018. The best percentage for a Libertarian in a partisan race against candidates of both establishment parties belongs to Elle Collins who picked up 7.27% in state House District 87 in 2018.

The Oklahoma LP has had at least one primary in five of the six election cycles that the party has been on the ballot, the exception being 1984 when the OKLP was put on the ballot by court order and allowed to nominate by convention. Primary winners in 1980 were Anne Fruits for Tulsa County Clerk and Jim Rushing for Congressional District 5. In 1996 Agnes Regier narrowly edged out Mike Clem for the US Senate nomination. The 2000 Corporation Commission primary was headed to a runoff when first-place finisher Whitney Boutin withdrew, allowing Roger Bloxham to be nominated. Party stalwart Robert Murphy was nominated for US Senate in the 2016 primary. And in 2018 Chris Powell and Rex Lawhorn advanced to the first Libertarian primary runoff in the nation, with Powell winning the gubernatorial nomination.

Size and Influence

Year Minimum
Unique
Voters 		Minimum
Percent
Of Voters 		Registered
Voters
(Oct/Nov) 		Percent
of
Registered
Voters 		Signature
Members
(Dec) 		Signature
Members
Per
Million
Population 		LNC
Total Donors
2004 - Present
Or
Active Members
1972 - 2003
(Dec) 		LNC Donors
Per
Million
Population 		State Rank
Of Total LNC
Donors
(Of 51)
2018 270,313 22.78% 8,675 0.41% 1,120 284 175 44.38 28
2017 4,630 1,082 275 146 37.14 31
2016 83,481 5.75% 3,599 0.17% 1,169 298 187 47.66 32
2015 1,038 265 89 22.75 34
2014 9,125 1.11% 1,023 264 90 23.21 36
2013 989 257 109 28.29 34
2012 16,921 1.27% 960 252 109 28.56 34
2011 907 240 100 26.41 34
2010 48,723 4.67% 888 236 113 30.06 33
2009 855 230 108 29.05 34
2008 1,161 0.08% 810 221 126 34.34 34
2007 765 210 116 31.92 33
2006 724 201 71 19.75 35
2005 659 186 106 29.87 34
2004 3,138 0.21% 689 0.03% 157 44.54 35
2003 299 128 36.52 35
2002 63,093 6.09% 286 0.01% 153 43.85 34
2001 171 190 54.80 33
2000 23,253 1.88% 703 0.03% 226 65.42 33
1999 267 195 58.07 35
1998 185 55.40 34
1997 122 36.81 38
1996 14,595 1.20% 141 0.01% 128 38.91 37
1995 72 22.05 37
1994 59 18.18 37
1993 46 14.25 36
1992 4,486 0.31% 63 19.66 36
1991 53 16.74 36
1990 36 11.44 42
1989 35 11.11 37
1988 6,261 0.52% 42 13.26 33
1987
1986
1985
1984 27,048 2.10% 444 0.02%
1983
1982 14,627 1.62%
1981
1980 13,828 1.18% 875 0.06%
1979
1978 255 0.03%
1977
1976 2,867 0.26%
1975
1974
1973
1972

External Links

References

  • [1]MCCRAW et al. v. CITY OF OKLAHOMA CITY


Oklahoma Libertarian Party
Affiliates: Central Oklahoma
Conventions: 1972 • 1973 • 1974 • 2020 • 2021
Documents: Bylaws • Newsletters • Platforms
Other: Election Results



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  1. ↑ Bylaws, Oklahoma Libertarian Party (OKLP), https://oklp.org/bylaws/, retrieved 4 April 2019 
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