Court Approves Petition To End Affirmative Action

There are new developments in the push to end affirmative action in Oklahoma.  Oklahoma's highest court approved a controversial petition to end racial preferences in the state.  This puts the issue one step closer to getting on the November ballot.

The News On 6's Ashli Sims reports State Question 737, which would end affirmative action in the state, is moving forward.

The official public notice ran in Monday's Tulsa World that starts the clock for anyone to file a protest.  But what you could see on the ballot is dramatically different than the controversial wording on the petition people signed.

One of the biggest complaints about the Oklahoma Civil Rights Initiative Petition is that people simply did not know what they were signing.

Now Oklahoma's Attorney General says the petition's language did not follow the law.  So he changed it.

The original summary of State Question 737 was about 130 words long.

The Attorney General's version is more than 180 words.

A group of local leaders and civil rights attorneys from Michigan have criticized the original petition, calling it "deliberately deceptive."  They say it's misleading, because it never mentions affirmative action.

The petition states it would prohibit discrimination or granting preferences on the basis of race, gender or ethnicity.

The new version of State Question 737 spells it out, a yes vote would make "state affirmative action

programs unlawful" and "local affirmative action programs unlawful."