Petitioners seeking to raise Oklahoma’s minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2029 descended on the Secretary of State’s office in Oklahoma City on Monday.
Raise the Wage Oklahoma says it plans to submit nearly double the 92,263 signatures required to get the question before voters. After counting is complete, the Secretary of State’s office will notify the campaign of a signature count date and location in the coming days.
If a sufficient number of signatures are counted and verified, a statutory challenge period will begin. Lawmakers passed a bill this session to increase this challenge period from 10 to 90 days, but it remains unclear whether the measure will apply to State Question 832, campaign spokesperson Amber England said. Petitioners were in the signature collection phase when Gov. Kevin Stitt signed House Bill 1105 in late April.
The clock is ticking for State Question 832 to make it on the November ballot. To accommodate overseas voters, the state election board must begin printing ballots several weeks ahead of election day. That was one reason why State Question 820, the unsuccessful ballot initiative to legalize recreational marijuana, was left off the November 2022 ballot and instead decided in early March 2023.
