Blog Oklahoma Podcast / Blog Oklahoma Podcast 057: State Question 788

We have an Primary Election coming up in a few days and there is a State Question on the ballot. Also I have some social network updates to tell you about.

Welcome to Blog Oklahoma

Here in Oklahoma on Tuesday, June 26th. It's time once again to go vote. This is the primary election. The time you get to vote on the nominees of your party for the general election in November.

Oh by the way, if you are a registered independent, you are invited to vote in the Democratic primary.

Typically only party diehearts vote in the primary election, especially in a non presidential election years. Now if you're one of those people who don't care about party politics, you still need to go to the polls and vote. The reason? There is a state question on this ballot.

Well the powers that be didn't wait until November and the general election, they put this state question on the primary ballot. So that means every eligible Oklahoma voter needs to go to the polls on Tuesday, June 26th, even if you don't have a primary to vote in.

And in my humble opinion it's a fairly important state question. It's all about the legalization in Oklahoma of medical marijuana.

STATE QUESTION NO. 788
INITIATIVE PETITION NO. 412

This measure amends the Oklahoma State Statutes. A yes vote legalizes the licensed use, sale, and growth of marijuana in Oklahoma for medicinal purposes. A license is required for use and possession of marijuana for medicinal purposes and must be approved by an Oklahoma Board Certified Physician. The State Department of Health will issue medical marijuana licenses if the applicant is eighteen years or older and an Oklahoma resident. A special exception will be granted to an applicant under the age of eighteen, however these applications must be signed by two physicians and a parent or legal guardian. The Department will also issue seller, grower, packaging, transportation, research and caregiver licenses. Individual and retail businesses must meet minimal requirements to be licensed to sell marijuana to licensees. The punishment for unlicensed possession of permitted amounts of marijuana for individuals who can state a medical condition is a fine not exceeding four hundred dollars. Fees and zoning restrictions are established. A seven percent state tax is imposed on medical marijuana sales.

FOR THE PROPOSAL - YES
AGAINST THE PROPOSAL - NO

Well there you have it. That's the State Question as it reads on the ballot. Now remember this is an update to the statutes of Oklahoma, not a constitutional change. That means the State Legislature can make changes to this with a simple majority vote.

In the show notes I've posted links to more information about this State Question including links to both pro and anti SQ788 groups. Please read through the information, listen to the arguments on both sides, and then make up your own mind about it.

But for whatever you decide, you need to do one very important thing. Go vote on Tuesday, June 26th. The polls will be open from 7 AM to 7 PM. If you need more information about voting in Oklahoma, please visit the Oklahoma State Elections Board's website at ok.gov/elections

Local Questions

Now besides the state question and the party primaries you might also have some local stuff to vote on. If you're unsure about that, go to ok.gov/elections, click on the online voter tool, and from there you can view a sample ballot.

For example here in Beckham County, where I live, there's a county question alongside the state question on the ballot. And it reads:

Beckham County Question

Shall the retail sale of alcoholic beverages by the individual drink for on-premises consumption be permitted within Beckham County, Oklahoma on Sundays, the first day of the week, Election days and Memorial day according to the laws of the State of Oklahoma?

FOR THE PROPOSITION - YES
AGAINST THE PROPOSITION - NO

And I believe there are similar questions to this in a few other counties. So check those sample ballots at ok.gov/elections.

This episode's writing suggestion

is to write your opinion of SQ 788 and to encourage everyone to go vote on Tuesday, June 26th, 2018.

Mastodon and Facaebook

Have you tried out Mastodon yet? It's somewhat new social network, and I've been enjoying watching it grow and develop. Well recently I had to move blogoklahoma to a new Mastodon home. The server we were on, mastodon.cloud, went down for more than a week, so I had moved to a new server. Our new Mastodon address is toot.cat/@blogoklahoma. I have link to it and more information about Mastodon in the show notes. Hope to see you there.

Now speaking of social networks. I've done something at Facebook that has drastically improved my news feed. Long time listeners will know I'm not a huge fan of Facebook, but I use it because that's where the people are. And that leads me into what I did. I went through and unliked and unfollowed most of all the Facebook Pages I've accumulated over the years. So what's left in my news feed besides advertising are just the people I've connected with and a few select local news Pages. I'm now seeing what my friends share, it's amazing. There are people in my news feed. I'm seeing local news and events now. Before it was a cluttered mess of what Facebook thought I wanted to see based on my Page likes. Now that I unliked most of those Pages, I'm actually starting to see what I want to see. It's a good experiment, and I encourage you to try it too. See if it makes a difference in your news feed. You can always go back and re-like those Pages.

Links from this episode

This episode's bonus interesting articles

This episode's bonus musical selection

You can listen To the Blog Oklahoma Bonus playlist on Spotify. Enjoy.

New To The Playlist:

Blog Oklahoma

Are you someone who blogs in or about Oklahoma? Then you already qualify for web ring membership. Join Blog Oklahoma today! Want to know more about Blog Oklahoma? Then just explore the web ring and discover some of the best blogs & podcasts in the nation. Just visit blogoklahoma.com for more information.

I'm happy to announce as of June 17, 2018, Blog Oklahoma has 725 registered Oklahoma bloggers.

Please feel free to connect with us at:

-###-