On April 7, the Oklahoma House passed SB 1016. It removes the names of the qualified parties, and the checkboxes for each, from the voter registration form. Instead the voter registration form will simply ask the applicant to fill out the party name on a blank line. The measure is intended to save money. Under the old system, every time a party becomes qualified, or ceased to be qualified, the forms must be reprinted. But under the new policy, such reprinting won’t be needed.
The bill does not have an urgency clause, so it won’t take effect this year.
I would not be surprised if the real reason they did this is so less people register as Libertarians.
It would also result in fewer people choosing Republican or Democratic too. Thus increasing the number of registered Independents. But I do agree that it does reduce the visibility of new parties when people register.