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Veterans Day, November 11, 2026 • Sunny and 71-72. ☀️
🙏 Veterans Day events planned across the Oklahoma City metro (KOCO)
🙏 Oklahoma veteran to receive Quilt of Valor at Veterans Day ceremony (KOCO)
🙏 Veterans Day meals in Oklahoma: These restaurants are honoring U.S. service members (News 9)
**
🚨 Blue Alert: Bryan County Sheriff’s Office searching for armed and dangerous suspect (News 9)
Poll results:
We received 293 votes on the Tuesday poll, “What's the biggest healthcare challenge facing rural Oklahoma?”
🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ Not enough doctors or specialists (54)
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Hospitals closing or cutting services (114)
🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️ High healthcare costs (85)
🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Long drives to get medical care (40)
New poll question at the bottom of today’s newsletter. (You can also suggest a poll question by emailing me at [email protected].)
Oklahoma Supreme Court strikes down restrictions on citizen initiative petitions
A volunteer collects signatures for State Question 836 in 2025. (Amber Integrated)
By Abigail Siatkowski and Graycen Wheeler, KOSU
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The Oklahoma Supreme Court struck down a law Tuesday that restricts the state’s initiative petition process.
The opinion, authored by Justice Noma Gurich, criticizes the 2025 Senate Bill 1027 as unconstitutional on First Amendment grounds, which protect the right to petition the government. She was joined by four fellow justices in what became a 5-4 decision.
In Oklahoma, citizens can do so through the initiative petition process.
Petitioners have 90 days to collect signatures from a required fraction of registered Oklahoma voters (8% to change state law and 15% to change the state constitution). If enough valid signatures are collected, the petition may appear on the ballot as a state question.
Last year, Oklahoma state lawmakers overhauled the process for gathering signatures on an initiative petition.
Senate Bill 1027 imposes restrictions on where signatures must be gathered. Under the 2025 law, no more than 10% of signatures on a petition could come from a county with more than 400,000 residents.
That only applies to two counties: Tulsa and Oklahoma. Under SB1027, those counties could contribute only 20% of a petition's signatures, despite being home to nearly 37% of Oklahoma residents.
The law also caps the number of voters who could sign an initiative petition based on how many people in that county participated in the most recent governor’s election.
Five Oklahoma voters filed a lawsuit challenging SB1027. They said the caps would deny millions of Oklahomans the right to sign a petition.
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The Oklahoma Rundown
Editor’s note: Links requiring subscriptions have an *.
Here’s what’s happening in Oklahoma today:
Oklahoma City extends moratorium on data center projects (Fox 25)
Edmond Council fires city attorney, extends data center moratorium (NonDoc)
Oklahoma lawmakers want to improve reading scores. A bipartisan group hopes to keep them on track. (The Frontier)
Senate Republicans choose Paxton to remain as caucus leader (Oklahoma Voice)
Hern to take oath Nov. 30 to become Oklahoma’s next US senator (Oklahoma Voice)
Tulsa City Council has extra millions to spend on economic development. Where could $6.6M be headed? (Tulsa Flyer)
Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics secures state’s first forced labor trafficking conviction (KGOU)
OSU’s vision for Tulsa higher education could reshape TCC — and its $60 million in tax revenue (Oklahoma Watch)
Legislative priorities could focus on mental health diversion, Oklahoma lawmaker says (Oklahoma Voice)
Oklahoma could pilot its first domestic violence specialty court. Here's what that might look like (KOSU)
Intra-tribal dispute lawsuit complicates Kalshi agreement with tribe in Oklahoma (KOSU)
Tulsa animal rescue cruelty case: Founder, coordinator face more than 100 felony charges (KJRH)
Wednesday Poll
Should Oklahoma make it easier or harder for citizens to put questions on the ballot?
Explain this to me!
What’s happening in Oklahoma that doesn’t make sense to you? Send me your question. I may answer it here in Oklahoma Memo or turn it into a video.
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