On April 2, the Oklahoma Senate Rules Committee passed HB 2134 by a vote of 16-1. The bill lowers the number of signatures for a newly-qualifying party from 5% of the last vote cast for the office at the top of the ballot, to 2.5% of the same base. It has already passed the House.
The lone “no” vote was cast by Senator Rob Johnson (R-Kingfisher). The Senate Rules Committee made a technical move to guarantee that, assuming the bill passes the Senate, it still needs to go to a conference committee. Thanks to E. Zachary Knight for this news. UPDATE: the web page of Oklahomans for Ballot Access Reform has more detail.
“Last vote” of what ?
Governor? POTUS?
“last vote cast for the office at the top of the ballot”
That is always either the race for governor or the race for President. To form a new party this year, the 5% was to be derived from the 2012 Presidential race. In 2012 it was derived from the 2010 governor race.