Ehsan Danish

Impeachment or removal from office is a mechanism for removing a government official from office. In Oklahoma, impeachment of state officials is governed by the Oklahoma Constitution and covers statewide elected officials. Removal from office is governed by statute and applies to other elected officials in the state.^[1]

While there is no mechanism for recall elections of state officials, some municipal governments in Oklahoma allow for recall petitions and elections to remove officials from office.^[2]

Tribal nations in Oklahoma have their own constitutions and may have their own mechanisms for impeaching tribal officials.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-political-science-review/article/impeachment-of-oklahoma-governors/A09BA3EB3007A3235FABF78EB0BDC214

Giles W. Farris (state printer) was impeached. He was removed from office on February 26, 1913, after the state's first impeachment trial^[3]

A. P. Watson (corporation commissioner) was the second official to be impeached in the state's history. He was removed from office on April 23, 1915.^[4]

While three out of the first fourt governors of Oklahoma faced threats of impeachment, it was not until the fifth governor that one was actually impeached.^[5] Jack C. Walton (governor) was impeached and was removed from office in November 1923. His impeachment included 22 articles of impeachment centered on an array of issues, including his declaring martial law in Okmulgee County to combat Ku Klux Klan violence (deploying the Oklahoma National Guard), censoring the Tulsa Tribune after it printed an advertisement by the Klan urging people to resist the martial law order, and for refusing to enforce the death penalty. Klan-aligned elements in the state legislature succeeded at removing Walton.^[5][6]

Henry S. Johnston (governor)

Johnston was again impeached in 1929, being convicted and removed from office in March 1929 for "general incompetence."^[7]

Carroll Fisher (insurance commissioner), resigned on September 24, 2004, after his impeachment by the Oklahoma House of Representatives^[8]

In Oklahoma's early state history, impeachment inquiries against governors of Oklahoma by the Oklahoma House of Representatives were commonplace.^[9]

https://www.cga.ct.gov/2004/rpt/2004-r-0184.htm

In early 1944, the state House rejected a resolution urging Crable's impeachment by a vote of 48–50.^[10]

Ahead of the 1940 general election, House Speaker Jed Johnson made a campaign promise that he'd resign from his office if Crable was not impeached within 30 days of the next legislature. In 1945, a House investigating committee recommended impeaching Crable. After three days of debate, the full House voted on February 16 to reject six articles of impeachment^[10] (which all related to the adoption of textbooks into state curriculum.)^[11] The proposed article of impeachment that got the closest to passing (concerning the acquisition and distribution of textbooks to poor households by the state welfare board) was rejected 55–59. Governor Robert S. Kerr had worked behind-the-scenes to lobby against the impeachment. House Speaker Johnson and other House leaders supported the impeachment effort. 21 House Republicans backed the impeachment.^[10]

The first proposed article (alleging that Crable had at meetings moved and seconded the adoption of textbooks that he had been warned were in violation state laws) received a vote a 48–60. The third proposed article impeachment (alleging that he had failed to certify 1940 textbook adoptions as he was required by law to) received a vote of 45–69. The fifth proposed article of impeachment (alleging that he had falsely denied that his own signature was present on documents when previously questioned by legislative committees) received a vote of 51–63. The sixth proposed artticle of impeachment (alleging that a member of the textbook commission had violated law) received a vote of 46–68.^[11]

https://www.cga.ct.gov/2004/rpt/2004-r-0184.htm

P. A. Ballard (Insurance Commissioner), resigned on April 29, 1913, after his impeachment by the Oklahoma House of Representatives^[12]

Napoleon Bonaparte Johnson (Supreme Court justice), impeached and removed from office during the 1965 Oklahoma Supreme Court scandal^[13]

• Leo Meyer (Auditor), resigned February 12, 1913, after the Oklahoma House of Representatives began impeachment proceedings^[14]
• Samuel Earl Welch (Supreme Court Justice), resigned during the 1965 Oklahoma Supreme Court scandal^[13]

Frank M. Wooden, the mayor of Tulsa, was impeached and removed from office.^[15]

John Red Eagle, Osage Nation Principal Chief impeached and removed from office in 2014.^[16]

Recall elections also occur in some governments. On April 2, 2024, Judd Blevins was recalled from the Enid City Commission after admitting to marching at the Unite the Right Rally in 2017 and amidst allegations he served as the Oklahoma state coordinator for the now-defunct Identity Evropa.^[17]