There will be two state questions on your Nov. 5 ballot. They are both legislative referendums, in other words, put on the ballot by the Legislature.
A legislative referendum begins as a House or Senate joint resolution, known in legislative lingo as an HJR or SJR and moves through the legislative process in a manner similar to a bill. If both chambers pass the same version, the resolution goes to a vote of the people as a state question (SQ).
Barriers to the ballot for legislative referendums are virtually nonexistent. Unlike referendums initiated by the residents, the collection of signatures on a petition is not required, there is no requirement for published notices to the residents of a potential state question, and residents do not have the opportunity to file legal challenges to legislative referendums before the election.
Using information available on the Oklahoma secretary of state website one can calculate that about 97% of referendum petitions have made it to the ballot. Contrast that to 22% of referendums initiated by the residents making it to the ballot. In spite of this imbalance the Legislature continues to make resident-initiated referendums more and more difficult. In the most recent legislative session, they passed Senate Bill 518 and House Bill 1105 .