🚨 OKLAHOMA WAS SUPPOSED TO ASK US EVERY 20 YEARS. IT HASN’T SINCE 1970. There is a requirement in the Oklahoma Constitution most citizens have probably never heard about. Article XXIV, Section 2 says the question of holding a constitutional convention “shall be submitted to the people at least once in every twenty years.” That does not mean Oklahoma must hold a convention every 20 years. It means voters must be asked if they want one. The last vote was in 1970. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? Think of the Oklahoma Constitution as the operating manual for state government. A constitutional convention allows delegates to consider changes to that document. Voting to hold one does not automatically rewrite the Constitution. Proposed changes would ultimately have to go before Oklahoma voters. The Constitution simply requires voters to periodically decide whether a convention should occur. 56 YEARS WITHOUT THE VOTE After the 1970 vote, the question should have been submitted again within 20 years. It wasn’t. Then, in 1994, lawmakers asked voters to eliminate the 20-year requirement. Oklahoma voters said NO. That’s significant. The requirement wasn’t simply forgotten. Voters were specifically asked whether it should disappear and chose to keep it. In 2021, the Legislature itself acknowledged in SJR 26 that the constitutional requirement existed, that the last vote occurred in 1970 and that voters rejected removing the requirement in 1994. Still, no vote. THE LEGISLATURE TRIED AGAIN IN 2026 This year, House Speaker Kyle Hilbert introduced HJR 1089, with Senate President Pro Tem Lonnie Paxton as Senate author. The House passed it 72-23. Then it stalled in the Senate. Paxton objected partly to the proposed convention structure, which would have used 101 House members and 48 senators as delegates. He also questioned whether an already crowded 2026 ballot was the right time. Whatever the policy arguments, the constitutional requirement remained. THEN STITT STEPPED IN On August 25, Gov. Kevin Stitt issued a proclamation establishing State Question 848, scheduling the convention question for April 6, 2027. His basic argument: The Constitution requires the vote. The Legislature hasn’t provided one. Therefore, his constitutional responsibilities allow him to act. Attorney General Gentner Drummond disagrees. His office called Stitt’s action “wholly inconsistent with the Oklahoma Constitution,” arguing that a governor cannot unilaterally create a state question. Normally, that requires legislative action or the initiative-petition process. And that’s where Oklahoma has landed: The Constitution says voters must be asked. The Legislature hasn’t done it. The governor says he’ll do it. The attorney general says he can’t. SO WHO ENFORCES THE CONSTITUTION? That’s the fascinating part. Article XXIV contains the requirement but provides no obvious penalty for ignoring it. It doesn’t remove legislators from office. It doesn’t impose a fine. And it doesn’t clearly give the governor authority to take over when the Legislature fails to act. There are also reports circulating that Stitt has already sued Drummond specifically over SQ 848. I have not been able to verify that claim, so I’m not treating it as fact. You don’t have to support a constitutional convention to see the larger issue. In 1994, Oklahoma voters were asked whether they wanted to eliminate this requirement. They said no. Yet 56 years have passed since voters were last given the choice the Constitution says they “shall” receive. Now Oklahoma may finally have to answer a question bigger than whether we need a convention: When the Constitution orders government to do something and government doesn’t do it, who makes government obey its own Constitution?