Utah Direct Primary Elections For Party Nominations Initiative (2018)

Utah Direct Primary Elections for Party Nominations Initiative
Election date November 6, 2018
Topic Elections and campaigns
Status Not on the ballot
Type State statute	Origin Citizens
List of Utah measuresUtah Constitutional Amendment AUtah Constitutional Amendment BUtah Constitutional Amendment CUtah Nonbinding Opinion Question 1Utah Proposition 2Utah Proposition 3Utah Proposition 4Submit

The Utah Direct Primary Elections for Party Nominations Initiative was not on the ballot in Utah as an initiated state statute on November 6, 2018.

Proponents of this initiative reported submitting about 175,000 signatures before the deadline on Monday, April 16, 2018. Of these, 113,143 signatures (64.65 percent) needed to be found valid.^[1] On May 29, 2018, the lieutenant governor declared the measure insufficient to make the ballot.^[2] Proponents had submitted 131,984 valid signatures statewide, but only met signature thresholds in 23 of the required 26 state Senate districts.^[3] On June 15, 2018, Count My Vote, the primary proponents of the initiative, appealed to the Utah Supreme Court in an attempt to get the measure on the November ballot. The lawsuit alleges that the signature removal process is unconstitutional and that it is easier to remove signatures from a petition than gather them.^[4]

Measure design[edit]

The measure would have enacted the following changes:^[5]

• require direct primary elections for any candidates that qualify to run for a given political party in one of two ways:
  • placement through a party convention, or
  • the collection of enough signatures;
• if three or more candidates qualify to run in the primary election, require a runoff election, with the top two candidates progressing;
• decrease the number of signatures required for a candidate to appear on a primary election ballot from 2 percent to 1 percent of the party's members within the office's geographic boundaries;
• move the primary election date from the fourth Tuesday in June to the first Tuesday in June; and
• provide for a by-mail runoff primary election between the two candidates who received the highest vote totals in the regular primary election if no candidate received more than 35 percent of the vote in the regular primary election.

Supporters of the initiative referred to the proposal as the Count My Vote Initiative.

Text of measure[edit]

Full text[edit]

The full text of the initiative is available here.

Support[edit]

Count My Vote led the campaign in support of the initiative.^[6]

The following individuals signed the application for the initiative:^[5]

• Former Gov. Mike Leavitt (R)
• Norma Matheson, widow of former Gov. Scott Matheson
• Mayor Ben McAdams (D), Salt Lake County
• Gail Miller, owner of NBA team Utah Jazz
• Rich McKeown, CEO of Leavitt Partners

Opposition[edit]

Keep My Voice, the proponents of The Utah Allow Caucus-Convention Method for Party Nominations Initiative, opposed this initiative. An email sent from info@keepmyvoice.org on April 5, 2018, attempted to get people to remove their signatures from the Count My Vote petition, arguing that initiative would "create a pay-to-play scheme where money buys ballot access for candidates," and that "big-money from D.C. will flow into Utah's elections." They also argue that special interests will "control the agenda of our elected officials" and not local citizens, and that "elected officials will be less accountable" to the voters. On May 29, 2018, the lieutenant governor declared that the initiative did not meet sufficient signature requirements to get on the ballot. The Keep My Voice campaign to get voters to remove their signatures from the petition was successful in persuading around 2,950 people to remove their signatures, effectively keeping the measure from securing a place on the ballot.^[7][8]

Brandon Beckham, the director of Keep my Voice, said, "It would basically nullify or weaken the caucus-convention system even more than it is. In the signature path, there is no accountability. There is no vetting. It's strictly just money."^[9]

Campaign finance[edit]

As of April 16, 2018, one committee—Count My Vote Inc—had registered to support this initiative. The committee had reported $873,371.30 in contributions—$838,371.30 in cash donations and $35,000.00 in in-kind services .^[10]

As of April 16, 2018, one committee—Keep My Voice—had registered to oppose this initiative. The committee is also registered to support an initiative to allow the caucus-convention method for party nominations. The Keep My Voice committee reported $53,905.36 in contributions—$52,850.00 in cash donations and $1,055.36 in in-kind services.^[11]

The top seven donors in support of this initiative provided 95.61 percent of the support contributions. Those donors are listed below. The top two donors in opposition to this initiative provided 99.35 percent of the opposition contributions. Those donors are listed below.

Support[edit]

Top donors[edit]

Opposition[edit]

Top donors[edit]

Background[edit]

Initiative in 2014[edit]

In 2014, the organization Count My Vote sponsored a ballot initiative to replace the state's caucus-convention system of nominating party candidates with direct primary elections.^[12] The initiative was withdrawn in March 2014 after the Utah State Legislature passed and governor signed Senate Bill 54, which Count My Vote and legislators negotiated as a compromise bill.^[13]

Senate Bill 54[edit]

In March 2014, the Utah State Legislature passed Senate Bill 54. Prior to SB 54, candidates could only represent a party on a primary or general election ballot if they qualified through a party's convention. SB 54 established an alternative method for nominating party candidates. Instead of receiving a nomination at a convention, candidates are allowed to collect signatures to get on the ballot. If a candidate collects enough signatures, then voters select between the convention-nominated candidate and the other candidates who collected signatures at a primary election.^[14] The Utah Republican Party filed a lawsuit in an attempt to overturn SB 54, arguing that it violated their First Amendment right of free association and their ability to select nominees through the caucus-convention system. On March 20, 2018, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld SB 54, saying it “strikes an appropriate balance between protecting the interests of the state in managing elections." A request for a rehearing was denied on June 8, 2018.^[15][16]

On March 4, 2019, the Utah Supreme Court declined to hear the Utah Republican Party’s appeal of a 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in 2018.^[17]

The competing "Keep My Voice" initiative[edit]

Opponents of this initiative filed a conflicting initiative—known as the "Keep My Voice" initiative—to allow the caucus-convention method for party nominations without requiring a primary for party nominee challengers that qualify through a signature petition. Proponents of the initiative withdrew it, however.

Path to the ballot[edit]

See also: Laws governing the initiative process in Utah

The state process[edit]

In Utah, the number of signatures required to qualify an initiated state statute for the ballot is equal to 8 percent of the number of active voters as of January 1 of the year following the last regular general election. Petition circulation must be distributed so that signature equal to 8 percent of the active voters are collected from each of at least 26 of the 29 Utah State Senate districts. State law establishes a final signature deadline for direct initiated state statutes as either 316 days after the initial initiative application was filed or February 15 of the election year, whichever is earlier.^[18] Moreover, signature petition sheet packets for direct initiatives must be submitted to county clerks on a rolling basis no more than 30 days after the first signature is added to the packet.

The requirements to get an initiated state statute certified for the 2018 ballot:

• Signatures: 113,143 valid signatures were required.
• Deadline: The deadline to submit signatures was April 15, 2018. Each initiative also has an initiative-specific deadline 316 days following the initial application.

Each signature is verified by the county clerks in the county where the signature was collected. After verification, the petition forms are delivered to the lieutenant governor, who counts the total number of certified signatures and declares the petition as either sufficient or insufficient.

Details about this initiative[edit]

• The initiative petition was filed with the lieutenant governor on September 27, 2017.^[5]
• A fiscal impact statement was provided on October 30, 2017.
• Following public hearings held on October 27, October 28, and October 30 of 2017, proponents amended their initiative to keep the ability of political parties to nominate a candidate through the convention process. Under the amended initiative, that candidate would still have to face any challengers for that party's nomination in a primary if the challenger collected enough signatures. The original version of the initiative required all candidates to collect signatures in order to get on the ballot. The amended version retained the reductions in the signature requirements to qualify for a primary election; these provisions were present in the original version as well.^[19]
• The addendum to the initiative application was filed on November 8, 2017.^[5]
• A revised fiscal impact statement was provided for the amended initiative on November 16, 2017.^[20]

As of 2017 year-end reports, proponents had spent $191,928.07 on the signature petition drive so far. Of that, $184,158.07 was paid to the petition management company Gathering Inc., and the remainder was spent on petition sheet copying.^[10]

Proponents of this initiative reported submitting about 175,000 signatures before the deadline on Monday, April 16, 2018. Of these, 113,143 signatures (64.65 percent) need to be found valid.^[1][21]

On May 29, 2018, the lieutenant governor declared the measure insufficient to make the ballot.^[22]The Keep My Voice campaign to get voters to remove their signatures from the petition was successful in persuading around 2,950 people to remove their signatures, effectively keeping the measure from securing a place on the ballot.^[8]

Lawsuits[edit]

Count My Vote v. Lieutenant Governor Spencer J. Cox[edit]

  Source: Utah Policy

On May 29, 2018, the lieutenant governor declared the measure insufficient to make the ballot.^[23]The Keep My Voice campaign to get voters to remove their signatures from the petition was successful in persuading around 2,950 people to remove their signatures, effectively keeping the measure from securing a place on the ballot.^[8]

On June 15, 2018, Count My Vote, the primary proponents of the initiative, appealed to the Utah Supreme Court in an attempt to get the measure on the November ballot. The lawsuit alleges that the signature removal process is unconstitutional and that it is easier to remove signatures from a petition than gather them. The lawsuit also alleges that the threshold-per-district requirement violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment because it essentially favors opponents of ballot measures rather than proponents. The lawsuit also alleges that the threshold-per-district requirement violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment because it essentially favors opponents of ballot measures rather than proponents.^[4] Count My Vote argued, "Opponents of the initiative were effectively able to prevent the CMV Initiative from going to a full up-or-down vote of the people by convincing just a fraction of one percent (0.04%) of the over 131,000 voters who signed in favor of the CMV Initiative to remove their signatures."^[4]

On August 24, 2018, the Utah Supreme Court ruled that the measure would not be added to the November ballot.^[24]

Keep my Voice v. Lieutenant Governor Spencer J. Cox[edit]

On May 25, 2018, Keep My Voice, opponents of the initiative, filed a lawsuit against Lieutenant Governor Spencer Cox, arguing that he improperly advocated for the initiative and has a bias in favor of it. The lawsuit stated, "Lt. Gov. Cox has acted with apparent and actual bias in favor of the [Count My Vote] Initiative, and in direct interference with the rights of plaintiffs and all other members of the Utah electorate who are opposed to the CMV Initiative." The lawsuit also alleged that the state law requires a full count of petition signatures and signature removal requests before the public release and asked the court to extend the deadline for signature removal requests until June 1, 2018, the date on which Cox was scheduled to certify or deny measures for the November 2018 ballot.^[25]

Ultimately, the initiative backed by County My Vote did not qualify for the November 2018 ballot.

See also[edit]

2018 measures 2018 ballot measures Elections and campaigns on the ballot

Utah Utah ballot measures Utah ballot measure laws

News and analysis Ballot measure lawsuits Ballot measure readability Ballot measure polls

Footnotes[edit]

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