State Question 832, A Ballot Measure To Raise Oklahoma's Minimum Wage, Pushed To 2026

State Question 832, a ballot measure to raise Oklahoma's minimum wage, has been set for 2026 instead of the November ballot.

SQ 832 aims to raise the minimum wage from $7.25 to $15 by 2029.

Gov. Stitt has set a date for the state question to appear on the gubernatorial primary ballot on June 16, 2026, bypassing more than a dozen possible election days before then.

The Governor's office said the decision saves $1.8 million for the cost of a stand-alone, statewide election. Supporters of the measure, who are confident it will pass, complain the potential pay raise for 327,000 Oklahomans moves from Jan. 1 of 2025, to January 2027.

“This is really disrespecting the will of the voters,” said Amber England, who organized the Raise the Wage Oklahoma campaign.

The Oklahoma Secretary of State’s Office officially verified 157,287 signatures for the ballot measure to raise the minimum wage in August. The signature count needed to reach a minimum of 92,263 signatures for State Question 832 to make the Oklahoma ballot.

It is the longest delay for a state question in the past 10 years in Oklahoma, 21 months, according to the Oklahoma Policy Institute.

OK Policy Executive Director Shiloh Kantz released the following statement:

“It’s been more than 15 years since the minimum wage in Oklahoma has been increased, and in that time the cost of living has increased by nearly 50%,” Kantz said. “Such an extreme delay for a statewide vote on this issue disrespects the real needs of more than 200,000 Oklahoma workers who would benefit from increasing the state’s minimum wage.”

While supporters of the measure were hopeful that it would appear on the November ballot, the governor has the discretion to call a special election or place the vote on any statewide election.

According to the Secretary of State's office,

“A measure shall be submitted to the people for their approval or rejection at the next regular election; provided, the Governor shall have power, in his or her discretion, to call a special election to vote upon such questions, or to designate the mandatory primary election as a special election for such purpose.”

There are 12 potential election dates in 2025 that could have been chosen but the Governor's office said the decision is consistent with state law and that all.

“Consistent with state law, Secretary Cockroft and the State Election Board recommended the next possible statewide ballot, which would be the June 2026 statewide primary. This choice saves taxpayers over $1.8 million and prevents the need for the Election Board to request supplemental funding from the Legislature to arrange a stand-alone statewide election,” said Abegial Cave with the governor's office.

The bill's language would have required Oklahoma employers to pay a minimum of $9 an hour beginning in 2025 and increase by $1.50 annually until reaching $15 an hour in 2029. The minimum wage would then increase automatically based on the increase in the cost of living as measured by the U.S. Department of Labor's Consumer Price Index. (Full Language Below)

With the vote now scheduled for 2026, employers would miss the first increase of the measure if it were approved by the people and jump straight to $12 an hour. The measure also states that it would go into effect in January 2027 following the election and would not be retroactive.

In August, Amber England, with Raise the Wage Oklahoma, said the measure's effort is a commitment to ensure Oklahomans can keep up with the cost of living.

“In just 90 days, our campaign connected with a staggering number of people that were excited to sign the petition to give power to voters and let Oklahomans decide for themselves if the minimum wage should gradually be raised to $15 an hour,” England said.

The news release said the Secretary of State had submitted the official signature count to the Oklahoma Supreme Court and a 10-business-day protest period would begin once the official notification was posted to a statewide newspaper.

“We hope politicians and special interest groups with deep pockets representing giant corporations, who have tried to block us at every turn, will respect the will of voters and forgo any further political maneuvers that would keep this off the ballot. It’s time to let voters decide this issue for ourselves,” England said.

Opponents to the measure like The State Chamber challenged the petition calling it unconstitutional.

“It's just an unnecessary solution in search of a problem that doesn't exist in Oklahoma,” State Chamber President and CEO Chad Warmington said in January. “Tying a minimum wage to a federally produced cpi index that's taking in inflation from the coasts of California and New York is not representative of what the actual wage is in Oklahoma.”

On top of this, he said Oklahoma businesses are already paying far above $7.25, but still struggling to find workers. He said raising the wage to $15 may, in turn, hurt the people it's intended to help: part-time and first-time workers.

Meanwhile, two other state questions will appear on the Nov. 5, 2024, ballot: SQ833 and SQ834.

State Question 833 would add a new section to the Oklahoma Constitution that would permit the creation of “public infrastructure districts that would provide support, organization, operation, and maintenance of services.”

According to the SQ, once a district is established, it will be governed by a board of trustees. The board may then issue bonds to pay for all or part of all public improvements implemented by and for the public infrastructure district.

State Question 834 aims to amend the Oklahoma Constitution and “clarify” that only citizens of the United States are qualified to vote in this state.

“Subject to such exceptions as the Legislature may prescribe, all citizens of the United States, over the age of eighteen (18) years, who are bona fide residents of this state, are qualified electors of this state.”

The measure if approved with change the language to read

“Subject to such exceptions as the Legislature may prescribe, all only citizens of the United States, who are over the age of eighteen (18) years, and who are bona fide residents of this state, are qualified electors of this state.”