Good government has two facets. Transparency into how our governments affect our lives, and checks and balances for every branch and elected official.

Turn on a TV during election season, and you’ll see plenty on the executive and legislative branches. Governors and legislators receive significant (and useful) attention and scrutiny on their records. And while in office, elected officials are routinely challenged and face public scrutiny.

But the courts are often insulated from those good government mechanisms.

Ask an average voter about the United States Supreme Court, and they’ll likely rattle off at least a few names and decisions. Ask about their state’s Supreme Court, and you’ll likely hear crickets.

While the judicial branch is designed to focus on the law and not politics, judiciaries with no real transparency or checks can quickly become an unseen force with the power to restrict and infringe on constitutional rights.

This was the reality in Oklahoma.

Since the 1960s, every time there’s a vacancy on the Oklahoma’s State Supreme Court, a committee recommends three candidates, and the governor appoints a justice from that list. Then, every six years, voters vote to retain or not retain each Supreme Court justice. In the state’s entire history, no supreme court justice had not been retained—or even faced a close election. But this dynamic isn’t because Oklahoma is full of perfect justices. Voters have never had access to information on how state supreme court decisions impact their lives.

The Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs (OCPA) set out to change that.

Sunlight and data

When OCPA launched their campaign, the goal was to bring transparency and accountability to the Oklahoma Supreme Court. However, unlike many political and policy campaigns, the biggest challenge wasn’t money or even rhetoric; it was apathy.

Oklahomans have never had access to clear, meaningful information about their state supreme court justices or how those justices have ruled on key issues. For over 60 years, judicial retention elections were treated as formalities, not opportunities for accountability.

OCPA’s rolled out their campaign in two phases. First, education and awareness. OCPA needed voters to know what issues were going before the state supreme court and how those decisions impacted their lives. Second, OCPA needed to inform citizens about individual justices’ records and their approaches to the law and constitution. OCPA’s strategy combined education, outreach, and tailored mobilization across multiple platforms.

To educate and build awareness, OCPA’s team created the state’s first-ever Oklahoma Supreme Court Judicial Scorecard. The scorecard provides voters with a data-based tool that is easy-to-access and easy-to-understand. The scorecard allows voters to learn about individual cases by providing in-depth analysis for many rulings from leading legal experts. The scorecard not only gives voters clear information on how justices rule, but also how many (sometimes complex) legal cases affect voters and taxpayers.

After releasing the scorecard, the team from OCPA and OCPA’s political action committee OCPA Action, got on the road. OCPA and OCPA Action visited 75 out of Oklahoma’s 77 counties and presented at more than 260 in-person events. These events gave OCPA’s team an opportunity to meet with real Oklahomans, explain the importance of learning more about the State Supreme Court, and answer questions leading up to the 2025 election where three supreme court justices were on the ballot for retention.

OCPA Action also ran a targeted digital campaign utilizing email, social media, and SMS messaging. The campaign also featured a media campaign that spanned statewide TV, radio, direct mail, and streaming (OTT) ads.

In the end, OCPA’s campaign reached tens of thousands of Oklahomans and more attention was paid to the three supreme court retention races than any other retention election in state history. All three supreme court justices faced incredibly close races, and one justice was not retained—something that has never happened before. Because of OCPA’s work, multiple organizations spent record amounts of money advocating for and against each supreme court justice on the ballot.

Honoring the responsibility

Benjamin Franklin famously said our nation’s government is “a republic, if you can keep it.” Our laws, our policies, our government is our responsibility as voters.

Data is good.

Discourse is good.

Debate is good.

No public official—elected or appointed—is insulated from transparency and accountability. The Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs have proved that. And their work made them a finalist for SPN’s 2025 Bob Williams award for the biggest win for freedom.

It’s an awesome opportunity to choose our leaders and reshape our government every election. Now, thanks to OCPA, Oklahoma voters are exercising that right for all their leaders