While rejecting four other state questions, more than 3 out of 4 Oklahoma voters approved an effort to give alleged crime victims more influence on court proceedings.
Also known as Marsy’s Law, SQ 794 will give alleged victims more opportunities to be heard in court while also giving them the right to limit contacts with defense attorneys.
Supporters argued it would give victims a louder voice in judicial proceedings. Opponents said it would hurt due process and undermine the principle of “innocent until proven guilty.”
Tuesday’s landslide came as the result of more than a year of grassroots campaigning, said Kim Moyer, who led the pro-Marsy’s Law effort in Oklahoma.
“The effort to pass Marsy’s Law has always been driven by people whose lives have been profoundly impacted by crime,” Moyer said. “They know firsthand how the criminal justice system can make people feel powerless, voiceless and lost.”
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Marsy’s Law, and similar legislation in several other states, is named for a California college student who was murdered in 1983.
Meanwhile, voters narrowly rejected an effort to let Walmart and other “big box” retailers offer optometry care, defeating SQ 793 by a 1 percent margin.
Funded largely by Walmart, the initiative petition would have overridden certain regulations on optometrists and opticians, allowing big-box retailers to offer eye care in their stores without a separate outside entrance, or a “second door.”
The ballot initiative failed despite Walmart and other retailers pouring millions of dollars into the “yes” campaign, significantly outspending the opposition, said Dr. Jason Ellen, a Tulsa-based eye doctor and the president of the Oklahoma Association of Optometric Physicians.
“You can get eyeglasses online for less than $10, so we know this campaign had nothing to do with price,” Ellen said. “It had everything to do with corporate control. You cannot elevate profits above patient health and practice good medicine. Voters understood that.”
Supporters, however, promised to revise the proposal and “seek a legislative remedy” to allow big-box retailers to enter the eye care market.
SQ 801, to lift restrictions on how school districts can spend permanent school millages, also failed by less than a 1 percent margin.
It would have allowed local districts to decide how to spend revenues from all 15 mills instead of mandating that 10 mills be spent on operations and the remaining five mills on construction and maintenance of buildings.
Supporters said it would give local school officials more flexibility. Opponents said it would not increase overall school funding and could be used to justify reducing state appropriations.
Meanwhile, voters resoundingly rejected two other state questions.
SQ 800, proposed by the Legislature, would have basically set up an endowment managed by the state treasurer to invest some revenues from Oklahoma’s gross production oil taxes. But voters shot it down by a nearly 15 point margin.
Proponents, including Republican legislative leaders, argued that would help create long-term stability for the state budget, with less dependence on volatile oil and gas prices. Opponents worried that it in the short term it would take revenue away from more immediate needs.
SQ 798 would have changed the way Oklahoma elects a lieutenant governor, putting candidates on the same ballot as governor, running as a team.
There didn’t seem to be any organized effort to oppose the measure. But only 46 percent of voters supported it.
