U.S.ENGLISH Chairman Blasts Apparent Postponement of Oklahoma Official English Initiative

Washington, DC-U.S.ENGLISH Chairman Mauro E. Mujica reacted with exasperation today of news that a proposed ballot measure to make English the official language of Oklahoma had been denied a spot on the November ballot again, this time due to legal challenges by a Tulsa law professor and others. "Over 100,000 citizens of Oklahoma have asserted that they want to vote on whether or not this measure should become law, and they did it with the reasonable expectation that it would not be stymied by some legal technicality," Mujica explained. "This action is intended solely to subvert the democratic process."

Under Oklahoma law, once the Secretary of State certifies signatures as valid, the governor has until 60 days before an election to officially guarantee a citizen initiative access on an upcoming ballot. Additionally,Oklahoma law allows any citizen to challenge a petition before the state Supreme Court. Since the current challenges have yet to be heard by the Court, the initiative has moved past the 60 day deadline for placement on the ballot in November.

"I am a native of Chile, and having traveled throughout Latin America, I am well acquainted with the kinds of tactics that are used to stifle democracy," Mujica continued. "When the Oklahoma State House passed this measure overwhelmingly three times, a single state Senator, Kelly Haney, bottled up the popular measure in his committee. Now, the people of Oklahoma are being insulted by a similar exercise. No matter what people think of this law, we should at least agree that citizens have expressed their clear wishes to put this measure on the ballot. I urge the Supreme Court to reject these frivolous actions, and let the people have their say on the issue. To do otherwise would be to make a mockery out of the entire initiative process. On way or another, I want to promise our members in Oklahoma that we will fight to ensure that they eventually have their say."

U.S. English, Inc. is the nation's oldest and largest non-partisan citizens' action group dedicated to preserving the unifying role of the English language in the United States. Founded in 1983 by the late Sen. S.I. Hayakawa of California, U.S. English, Inc. (www.usenglish.org) now has more than 1.8 million members.