How To Recall Politicians… If You’re Curious

It seems like a year since people cried foul on the CIP tax spending in the days after it was adopted. Frustrations were loud on social media about it. Then, your local elected officials were seemingly blessed with coronavirus concerns. You can see how that might be a welcome distraction from the heat they were facing at the moment.

Skip forward to now, and it appears that people aren't going to go quietly into the night with the ever-changing newly adopted rules that are coming out of these special sessions in the last two weeks. Closing some businesses but not others. Realizing mistakes and trying to fix them. Forcing new rules on the few businesses that are federally listed essential. I personally wouldn't call it tyranny, but that isn't stopping the loudest of the citizens on social media from saying it. Many more are tossing out words and phrases like "overstepping" and "going too far." It's slowly becoming a thing.

Now I've covered things like the orders to isolate, quarantine, and the controversial curfew law over here, but it seems people are having trouble with the choices our top local officials are making as far as which businesses are essential when some close, and other similar businesses remain open.

With that out of the way, there is good news. While you can't recall a state official in Oklahoma, you are free to do so at the local level. All it takes is a few signatures. Now, you'd have to find out through the city attorney just how many signatures it's going to take.

All in all, in Oklahoma, a successful petition to recall a local official requires signatures from as little as 5% of of the registered voters. Some cities (OKC) have pushed these numbers as high as 25%, but again, I can't find a concrete stat for Lawton.

While I have no dog in this fight, I see people speaking out. People upset about how local authorities are handling this situation. It's important for them to remember they are citizens. There are more ways to respond to what they disagree with rather than just saying "OK Boomer." If you want change, make change happen. It would be a challenge, especially in trying to keep a proper social distance, but if history has taught us anything, absolutely nothing is impossible for the will of the American people.