A Look At This November's State Questions

Wednesday, September 7th 2016, 7:00 pm

By: Grant Hermes

When voters head to the polls this November, they'll be confronted with serious choices.

They will see a presidential vote, a senate vote, four congressional votes, state seat votes and judicial seats. Tucked away on the end of the ballot will be seven state questions, all have proved to be flashpoint issues.

Here are the questions in numerical order and what they do in one sentence.

Question 776 would make the death penalty a part of the Oklahoma Constitution.

Question 777 would remove state regulation on farming with the exception of the most extreme cases.

Question 780 would reduce some drug felonies to misdemeanors and its partner State Question 781 would create a new state fund to pay for rehab programs. However, 781 would cannot go into effect if 780 is not passed.

Questions 790 would allow government money to be spent for religious purposes.

Question 792 would let grocery and convenience stores sell full point wine and beer.

The questions appear on the ballot in this same order based on the number assigned to them from the Secretary of State’s office.

According to the State Board of Election secretary Paul Ziriax, the number of questions is just above the average, but the ballot itself is long.

The length of ballots is cause for concern to many, because of a voting by-product called “ballot fatigue.”

“That term is used to describe the drop off that sometimes occurs on rather lengthy ballots when finally, a voter says I've voted on enough races or enough questions and says I give up,” Ziriax said.

He suggested several ways to prevent this type of fatigue, but the overarching sentiment was voters need to do their homework and be informed.

“It depends a lot on how public interest there is and how much discussion there is,” Ziriax said about voting on the state questions. “Whether it's on [News9/NewsOn6] or the local paper or whether there's television advertising or mailings going out. That can have a real impact.”

Ziriax pointed to the state’s elections tool, which has every resource voters need before they head to the polls.

He also said voters should bring in a sample ballot they’ve marked up to serve as a “cheat sheet” for voting. Although, he added, voters should not show their sample ballots with anyone else, as it is a violation of state law.

Sample ballots should be issued in about a month. The last day to register to vote is Oct. 14.