Most of the self-governing municipalities in our state, including Oklahoma City And Tulsahave a recall process that allows citizens to remove an elected city official.

Nineteen states, including our neighbors in Kansas, LouisianaAnd Coloradohave a method to recall a nationally elected official.

But while some city constitutions give voters the ability to hold city officials accountable through the recall process, Oklahoma law contains no provisions allowing voters to attempt to remove elected officials at the state and county levels before the end of their terms.

It’s time to change this.

Sheriff of McCurtain County Kevin Clardy was admitted Comments about the lynching of blacks and the killing of journalists in March 2023. Despite suffering a re-election defeat in the June primary, Clardy will remain in office until the end of the year. no legal means to remove himThe residents of McCurtain County must continue to rely on Clardy as their top law enforcement officer.

Commissioner of the Company Todd Hiett is said to have groped a man at a conference of regulators in June. Hiett claims he has no memory of the incident, but admitted he was drunk and has an alcohol problem for which he is receiving treatment.

Although he has resigned as chairman of the Corporation Commission, he refuses to step down from his position as one of the three commissioners. An investigation His conduct is currently under investigation, but since the incident occurred out of state and no charges have been filed, it is very likely that Hiett will remain in office until the end of his term in January 2027.

The state’s Education Secretary, Ryan Walters, was the subject of repeated calls for impeachmentthe youngest of several prominent Republican representatives. He faces questions about whether he has followed public records and meetings laws and whether he is distributing public funds appropriately. He is being investigated by the Legislative Office of Fiscal Transparency (LOFT). However, Speaker of the House Charles McCall has stated that he Impeachment proceedings motion unless 51 of the 81 Republicans in the Oklahoma House of Representatives join in supporting him. In a situation similar to Hiett and Clardy, Oklahomans can expect Walters to remain in office until the end of his term in 2027, unless he is convicted of a crime.

Each of these officials would likely be subject to an attempt to remove him from office by recall if such a process existed only for state and county officials.

Could a citizen-initiated recall effort make it onto the ballot in these cases, and if so, would it have the necessary voter support to succeed? It’s impossible to say.

Yet it seems clear that it is long overdue for our state’s legislators to develop and pass a referendum to give citizens the opportunity to remove an undesirable elected official at any level of government in the state through direct democracy.

In order to hold politicians accountable to the people, recall is an urgently needed instrument.