On May 5, Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin signed SB 896. This bill lowers the number of votes for a party to remain on the ballot, from 10% for the office at the top of the ballot (President or Governor) to 2.5%. Although this is still more stringent than the median state, it is the lowest percentage of the vote that Oklahoma has required since 1913. The vote test between 1913 and 1974 was 5% at either of the last two elections; then it went to 10% at the last election.

This bill probably would not have been introduced, if the Libertarian Party had not got on the ballot this year. No other party qualified this year. It is likely that the legislature would not have been interested in lowering the vote test, if there had been no clear beneficiary for such a change. Thanks to E. Zachery Knight for this news.