OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma voters cast their ballots Tuesday to decide whether to approve State Question 832, a measure that would raise the state’s minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to $15 by 2029, marking the first increase in Oklahoma’s minimum wage in nearly two decades.
“Oklahomans have waited far too long for a livable minimum wage, and today, they will have the power to right this wrong,” Kelly Hall, executive director of the Fairness Project, a 501(c)(4) organization, said in a June 16, 2026, press release. “No family living off the minimum wage anywhere in the state has seen their wages go up since the last federal minimum wage increase back in 2009,” she continued. “Today, we’re confident that voters will head to the polls in droves to vote themselves a well-deserved raise.”
The effort to place State Question 832 on Oklahoma’s ballot began three years ago, according to public radio station KOSU. Although the measure was eligible for the November 2024 ballot, Gov. Kevin Stitt chose to delay the vote until now to “avoid paying nearly $2 million for a statewide special election,” KOSU wrote, making it the “longest period in the last decade between an initiative petition’s signatures being turned in and its actual election.”
If approved, it would mark the first increase in Oklahoma’s minimum wage since 2009, according to the Fairness Project. The minimum wage would increase to $12 in 2027 and then rise by $1.50 each year until reaching $15 in 2029. After 2029, the minimum wage would “automatically increase” based on inflation and the cost of living, according to the Oklahoma State Election Board.
“Beginning in 2030 and continuing indefinitely, the minimum wage would automatically increase annually based on the increase in the cost of living, if any, as measured by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers,” the Oklahoma State Election Board wrote on its website. “The minimum wage increase would continue with any successor agency or index. Such [increases] would also not require approval from Congress or the Oklahoma Legislature.”
The proposal has generated significant debate among voters, as well as among grassroots organizations, nonprofits and other stakeholders. A collective $4.17 million has been spent on “state question communications,” according to the Oklahoma Gazette.
Much of the opposition’s argument stems from the fact that State Question 832 would eliminate minimum wage exemptions, according to the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs. Farms, ranches and small businesses would all be required to pay their workers the new minimum wage, including part-time and teenage employees.
Opponents also argue that the annual increases in the minimum wage would greatly exceed Oklahoma’s rate of inflation, which would “effectively tie Oklahoma’s wage mandate to the cost of living in places like New York City or San Francisco,” the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs reported.
“This is not a simple wage increase—it’s a permanent, automatic, uncapped mandate that drives up prices, eliminates jobs, harms small businesses and family farms, and puts Oklahoma at a disadvantage,” the National Federation of Independent Business wrote on its “Vote No on SQ 832” webpage.
The Fairness Project’s press release reported that, according to the Economic Policy Institute, 375,000 workers in Oklahoma would benefit from the measure. The Economic Policy Institute also found that 59.3% of those workers live at or below 200% of the federal poverty line.
“Almost two-thirds of the workers who would be affected by SQ 832 are women (63.3%),” the Economic Policy Institute wrote. “The policy would also disproportionately benefit workers of color. Hispanic workers make up 18.2% of the affected workers, compared with 11.0% of the total Oklahoma workforce. Black workers would be 10.6% of affected workers, while only making up 7.1% of the workforce.”
The fate of Oklahoma’s minimum wage remained undecided Tuesday, but supporters such as the Fairness Project expressed optimism as votes were being counted.
“We’re excited this morning,” Hall said in the Fairness Project’s June 16, 2026, press release. “No one should need to wait nearly two decades for a raise, not when the cost of living has continued to skyrocket year after year. If turnout today meets expectations, Oklahomans won’t have to wait much longer.”
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