In a unanimous decision this summer, the Oklahoma Supreme Court invalidated the results of a November 2022 lodging-tax election in McCurtain County for failure to follow statutory publication requirements.

Statute Title 19 O.S. 2021 §383 requires questions to the people “to be published at least four (4) weeks in some newspaper published in the county” if there is such a newspaper.

(This story was originally published in the July 2024 issue of The Oklahoma Publisher, the monthly newsletter of the Oklahoma Press Association. It is reprinted here courtesy of OPA.)