Cast your vote: Where do you stand on SQ 844 and SQ 846?
The Stillwegian's reader poll is open now through Aug. 16 — anonymous, one vote per signed-in reader.
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Oklahoma voters decide two state questions on the Aug. 25 runoff ballot: State Question 844 on how local governments are reimbursed for a manufacturing tax exemption, and State Question 846 on adding the state's voter identification requirement to the constitution.
If you want the details on what each measure does and why it matters locally, see our explainer here.
The Stillwegian has also asked local elected officials and candidates where they stand on the questions. Now it's your turn.
The poll is open July 26 through Sunday, Aug. 16. Results publish Aug. 18, ahead of early voting, which runs Aug. 20-21 (8 a.m.-6 p.m.) and Aug. 22 (8 a.m.-2 p.m.) in Payne County.
Full text of SQ 844:
This measure amends article 10, section 6B of the Oklahoma Constitution. Section 6B incentivizes manufacturers to locate, expand, or acquire manufacturing facilities in Oklahoma through an ad valorem taxation exemption for five (5) years. Currently, the State must reimburse common schools, county governments, cities and towns, emergency medical services districts, vocational technical schools, junior colleges, county health departments and libraries for revenues lost as a result of each exemption provided. This measure authorizes the Legislature to enact laws establishing the levels and methodologies of reimbursement for the previously mentioned local governmental entities resulting from the manufacturing exemption. The laws are meant to ensure that no individual county receives reimbursement in an amount detrimental to other Oklahoma counties. The levels and methodologies will replace the current statutory framework for reimbursement. For the purpose of calculating the limit on indebtedness for political subdivisions, the measure requires such amount be equal to the amount of reimbursement applicable to such property under laws enacted by the Legislature. This measure will have a fiscal impact on the state that will depend on the application of the levels and methodologies adopted by the Legislature.
Full text of SQ 846:
This measure adds a new section 6 to article: the Oklahoma Constitution to require proof identity to vote in any election authorized by law and conducted by a county election board or the State Election Board. The measure requires proof of identity for all authorized methods of voting. The measure requires the Legislature to enact laws to specify requirements for proof of identity for voting. The measure will not have a fiscal impact.
Stillwegian Election Desk • Reader Poll
How will you vote on State Questions 844 and 846?
Unscientific. Anonymous. One vote per signed-in reader. Aug. 25 runoff election.
First, about you
Are you registered to vote in Oklahoma? Your answer is not checked against voter records. It lets us report results both overall and among Oklahoma-registered readers.
State Question No. 844
Authorizes the Legislature to set the levels and methods for reimbursing schools and local governments for revenue lost to the manufacturing property tax exemption.
State Question No. 846
Adds Oklahoma’s requirement of proof of identity to vote to the state constitution.
Unscientific snapshot of signed-in Stillwegian readers, not a scientific survey of Oklahoma or Payne County voters. Votes are recorded anonymously — your answers are never linked to your account. No running tally is published while the poll is open.
Thanks — your vote is counted.
Results publish Tuesday, Aug. 18, in The Stillwegian, ahead of early voting Aug. 20–22.
Where do our elected officials stand?
Every elected official and candidate The Stillwegian covers, from city council and school board to county offices and the state House and Senate, got the same two questions you just answered: How will you vote, and why? Each could answer yes, no or undecided, with up to 300 words to explain. They could also decline, which is their prerogative, and we'll report a confirmed decline as exactly that rather than leave you guessing.
Aug. 7: Official responses due.
Aug. 11: Full roundup publishes, every response printed as submitted and edited only for clarity and AP style. Anyone who doesn't respond will be noted as not responding.
Aug. 18: Your results publish, tallied and set against what the people who represent you had to say.
That's the whole project. What your officials think, what your neighbors think, and the ballot language itself, all in one place before you vote Aug. 25.
How your vote stays anonymous
Your vote can't be traced back to you. Not by hackers, not by advertisers, not by The Stillwegian.
The system checks that you're a signed-in reader, which is what holds the poll to one vote per person. It then records two things and nothing else: the running totals for each question, and a scrambled fingerprint of your account marking you as having voted. That fingerprint is a one-way code, stored separately from the counts. It can flag a second attempt, but it can't be reversed to reveal who you are. No list anywhere pairs a reader with an answer. When I check results, all I see is the tally.
No third-party polling company, no tracking pixels, no data broker in the middle.
About this poll
This is an unscientific reader poll, not a scientific survey. It does not represent the views of Payne County voters, Oklahoma voters or The Stillwegian's readership as a whole.
Readers choose to take it. Voting is limited to signed-in Stillwegian readers, one vote per account, but nobody is sampled at random. Results reflect the views of readers motivated enough to click.
We ask about registration because our readers aren't all Oklahoma voters. About 7 in 10 visitors to our site are in Oklahoma, which leaves a real share who can't cast a ballot Aug. 25. We'd ask that if you are not registered to vote in Oklahoma that you mark no.
Answers are self-reported and not checked against voter records, and we'll report them that way: one result for all respondents, one for readers who said they're registered in Oklahoma.
Nothing publishes until it's over. No running tally goes out while the poll is open. Final numbers, including how many readers responded, publish Aug. 18.
The Stillwegian does not endorse candidates or take positions on state questions. This poll should not be read as a forecast of how either measure will perform Aug. 25.
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