People Not Politicians (PNP) is a left-of-center advocacy group that opposes gerrymandering in Oklahoma. It is a project of two Oklahoma-based political education nonprofits: Let’s Fix This and the League of Women Voters of Oklahoma.

Executive director Andy Moore is also the founder and executive director of Let’s Fix This; the executive director of Freedom of Information Oklahoma, a state-level watchdog; and a co-founder of Consumer Focus USA, a consulting company specializing in customer preferences. ^[1]

Petition

On October 28, Politicians Not People launched a state-wide initiative, Initiative Petition 804, to form a “citizen-led, independent commission to determine all redistricting decisions” for the 2020 census. ^[2] As of 2020, Oklahoma’s redistricting process is entirely controlled by the state legislature subject to a gubernatorial veto;^[3] partisan control of the state is such that the process is controlled by Republicans. ^[4] PNP needed to get 177,958 voter signatures in 90 days to put the petition on the November 2020 ballot. ^[5] Starting in October 2019, PNP held townhall events across the state to raise awareness and collect signatures. ^[6]

Critics of the petition say that it makes the redistricting process more complicated and less responsive to voter input. State House Speaker Charles McCall (R-Atoka) called the initiative a “solution in search of a problem.” Other critics say the petition is an attempt by Democrats to seize control of the state-legislature through their own gerrymandering. ^[7]

On February 4, 2020, the petition was struck down by the Oklahoma Supreme Court for its lack of clarity. ^[8] On February 7, PNP refilled its petition, but it was immediately challenged by the law firm GableGotwals, which has ties to the Republican Party,^[9][10] with two lawsuits, one of which says the petition is still unclear in its objectives, and the other claiming the petition is unconstitutional. ^[11]

Donors

In 2019, Politicians not People received $250,000 from Unite America. ^[12] Kathryn Murdoch, the liberal daughter-in-law of right-leaning media mogul Rupert Murdoch, co-chairs and funded Unite America. ^[13] The organization has donated to many state-level electoral advocacy nonprofits: In September 2019, Unite America announced donations totaling $5 million to four advocacy groups seeking state-level changes: Pennsylvanians Against Gerrymandering, Alaskans for Better Elections, Voter Choice Massachusetts, and New York-based Rank the Vote. ^[14]