There will be two state questions on your November 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 citizens, the collection of signatures on a petition is not required, there is no requirement for published notices to the citizens of a potential state question, and citizens do not have the opportunity to file legal challenges to legislative referendums prior to 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 citizens making it to the ballot. In spite of this imbalance the Legislature continues to make citizen- initiated referendums more and more difficult. In the most recent legislative session, they passed SB 518 and HB 1105.SB 518 allows for a new $750 filing fee and increased scrutiny of voter signatures, despite there being no reason to believe that invalid signatures were being accepted. HB 1105 increased the two mandated challenge periods from 10 days to 90 days. To make matters worse, both bills contained an emergency clause, even though according to the Oklahoma Constitution, an emergency clause is to be used only in measures “immediately necessary for the preservation of the public peace, health, or safety.”SQ 834 began as SJR 23. If passed, it would amend Article III, Section 1, of the Oklahoma Constitution to say only qualified citizens of the United States, instead of all qualified citizens of the United States, may vote in Oklahoma.My question about SQ 834 is, why are the 108 legislators (all Republicans) who voted for this resolution wasting their time and our taxpayers dollars?A person who is not a citizen already cannot register to vote in Oklahoma. A person who is not registered cannot vote.Defeat of this question will send a message to our lawmakers that we are unhappy about the waste of their time, our tax dollars, and ballot space on inconsequential, meaningless ...