Hello Kay County Republicans!
I hope you have had a good summer and are staying relatively cool!
This Tuesday is our primary runoff election, with early voting already going on at the Kay County Election Board in Newkirk. PLEASE make plans to vote! If you will not be able to vote on Tuesday at your regular polling location, make sure to get up to Newkirk this week. Their hours are 8am-6pm on Friday and 8am-2pm on Saturday. Historically, the primary runoff is decided by a very low number of voters who show up, and this is an important election!!! On the ballot will be races for Governor, School Superintendent, Labor Commissioner, Insurance Commissioner, and, if you are outside of Ponca City, you will probably have OK House Representative in addition to the two State Questions. In my opinion, at least the top three races are pretty well defined between a Republican and a Democrat/RINO trying (or sometimes not) to look like a Conservative Republican. However, the State Questions are a bit more complicated.
You can check your sample ballot at: OKVoterPortal to see what all will be on your ballot.
Here are links to several voter information guides and articles that I think you may find helpful. First is the OKGOP Certified list of candidates meeting basic requirements and agreeing with at least 80% of our platform.
Here is one of the most detailed and informative guides. https://files.constantcontact.com/599efac8401/060ea5ac-4ff0-4e4d-9b1f-35f0342ad66e.pdf?rdr=true
Here are Jason Murphey’s recommendations: https://oklahomastatecapital.substack.com/p/jason-murpheys-august-25-voting-recommendations?r=1x46p6&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
The Awake Oklahoma guide: https://voterguideok.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/20260825_AOVG-02.pdf
The conservative case against SQ846: https://open.substack.com/pub/restorelibertyoklahoma/p/oklahoma-state-question-846?r=wttzc&utm_medium=ios
SQ844 amends the OK Constitution section on tax exemptions for Manufacturing facilities by basically adding “levels and methodologies of” before “reimbursement” allowing the legislature to adjust to how and to what extent local governments are paid back by the state for ad valorem taxes they aren’t allowed to collect under that section. There is concern that the current system is being abused, or on the other side that the new system would be abused by the legislature. There have not been any plans announced as to what the new “levels and methodologies” might be. This is a huge red flag. The actual redline version of the change is here:
https://www.oklegislature.gov/cf_pdf/2025-26%20ENR/hres/HJR1087%20ENR.PDF
The actual text that SQ846 would add to the OK State Constitution would be:
“Section 6. Each voter shall present proof of identity to the appropriate election official when voting at any election authorized by law and conducted by a county election board or the State Election Board. Proof of identity shall be required for any method of voting authorized by law. The Legislature shall enact laws necessary to specify the requirements for proof of identity for voting as required by this section.” The main issue is that “proof of identity” (to be defined by the legislature at any future time) is used instead of specifically requiring a Photo ID. However, this may be a small but actual step in that direction. https://www.oklegislature.gov/cf_pdf/2025-26%20ENR/SRES/SJR47%20ENR.PDF
The democrats and the teacher unions are solidly opposed to both state questions, as are some conservatives, but for different reasons.
Thursday will by our monthly meeting at Pioneer Technology Center in Ponca City at 7pm. Our guest speaker will be Representative JJ Humphrey. During his time in the Oklahoma House of Representatives and drawing on his background in Law Enforcement, he has become an advocate for justice by bringing transparency and publicity to government corruption. He will give an update on some of the issues that he has been working on, including some good news about the corruption in the Payne County judicial system.
If you found any of this information helpful, feel free to share it with with other Freedom-Loving Patriots and we look forward to seeing you on Thursday!
For Freedom,
Nathan Voelkers
Vice Chairman
Kay County Republican Party
