Oklahoma Divided: How Geography Influenced the Vote on ‘Right-to-Farm’

• Joe Wertz
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  Joe Wertz was a reporter and managing editor for StateImpact Oklahoma from 2011-2019. He reported on energy and environment issues for national NPR audiences and other national outlets. He previously worked as a managing editor, assistant editor and staff reporter at several major Oklahoma newspapers and studied journalism at the University of Central Oklahoma.
• Logan Layden
  BioRecent Stories

  

  Logan Layden is a reporter and managing editor for StateImpact Oklahoma. He is a native of McAlester, Oklahoma and graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 2009. Logan spent three years as a state capitol reporter and local host of All Things Considered for NPR member station KGOU in Norman and six years as a reporter with StateImpact from 2011 to 2017. Most recently, he was news director for McAlester Radio before returning to public radio in 2020.

Oklahoma voters on Tuesday soundly rejected State Question 777, a ballot measure that would have made farming and ranching a state constitutional right. The final tally was roughly 60 percent against and 40 percent in favor of the amendment — a difference of more than 290,000 votes.

A county-by-county breakdown of the results suggests geography was a major indicator of voters’ attitudes on the so-called ‘right-to-farm‘ amendment.

The majority of the Oklahoma’s 77 counties voted to approve SQ 777, but the measure failed the hardest in the the state’s most densely populated areas — counties like Oklahoma, Tulsa, Canadian and Cleveland, StateImpact’s analysis of unofficial results data from the Oklahoma State Election Board show.

The only highly populated county that backed the measure was Comanche County in the southwestern part of the state, where Lawton is located.

The strongest support for 777 was found in rural counties: Like Roger Mills, and Texas and Cimarron in the Panhandle.

But not all rural counties supported 777. For example: Voters in southeastern Oklahoma’s Coal County rejected the measure 53 percent to 47 percent.

The data also show a clear east-west divide on the ballot question, with agriculture-heavy western Oklahoma generally supporting the measure, while many of the counties in the eastern part of the state rejected it.

Edit: After this post was published, Bob Doucette from Tulsa made a good point that we touched on in a previous story:

@joewertz Might also note that many of the no counties are in lake country, where water quality problems from runoff have been an issue.

— Bob Doucette (@RMhigh7088) November 10, 2016