Oklahoma Representative Charles Key will again introduce a bill to lower the number of signatures for a party to appear on the ballot.  In the 2009 session, the Keys bill passed both houses of the legislature, but because each house passed a different version, and because the conference committee never reconciled the two versions, the bill did not pass.

The existing law, which requires a petition signed by voters equal in number to 5% of the last vote cast, is so severe, no one has completed it since 2000.  As a result, no voter in Oklahoma has been allowed to vote for any presidential candidate in November, other than the Democratic and Republican nominees, since 2000.  Oklahoma does not permit write-in votes.  The independent presidential petition procedure is also very harsh and has not been used since 1992.

Representative Key is a Republican from the Oklahoma City area, and is a committee chairman.  The 2011-2012 session of the legislature is the last session in which Key may sit, due to Oklahoma’s legislative term limits law.