Utah Allow Caucus-Convention Method for Party Nominations Initiative (2018)

Utah Allow Caucus-Convention Method for Party Nominations
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 Allow Caucus-Convention Method for Party Nominations Initiative will not appear on the ballot in Utah as an initiated state statute on November 6, 2018.

The measure would have enacted the following provisions:

• allowing the use of the caucus-convention method for determining a political party's nominee;
• repealing the requirement that candidates can qualify for a primary to challenge a convention-nominated candidate through signature petitions;
• repealing requirements for a direct primary election to determine party nominees; and
• changing provisions related to candidate declaration dates, election notice dates, the information concerning candidates appearing on the ballot, and provisions related to conducting elections and authority over election rules.

The initiative was designed to undo changes made by Senate Bill 54, which was approved in March 2014.

Supporters of the initiative referred to the proposal as the Keep My Voice Initiative.

This initiative would have conflicted with an initiative backed by Count My Vote to require direct primaries in cases where candidates other than convention-determined candidates qualify for the primary ballot through signature gathering and to lower the signature threshold for candidates to qualify.

On April 13, 2018, the proponents, Keep my Voice, released a statement saying that they would not submit signatures for this initiative. Keep my Voice co-founder and director, Brandon Beckham, said “We knew when we started the petition process it would be an uphill climb. But, we recognized the urgency to inform Utahns about the great benefits Neighborhood Caucuses offer to our communities and the harm Count My Vote is doing to our state politics." Co-founder, Dave Batemen said "What we accomplished in just two short months has exceeded all expectation. The outpouring of support from both Republicans, Democrats and unaffiliated voters has demonstrated the passion Utahns feel for the Caucus-Convention System. We are now well organized, funded and poised to defend the Freedom of Association for all Utah's political parties." Beckham also said that Keep my Voice was preparing to launch a new initiative in 2020.

Text of measure

Full text

The full text of the initiative is available here.

Sponsors

Keep My Voice led the campaign in support of the initiative.

The following individuals signed the application for the initiative:

• Mac Sims
• Chris Herrod
• Jacquline Smith
• Jonathon Johnson
• Dave Bateman

Background

Senate Bill 54

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 under SB 54. If a candidate collects enough signatures, then, at a primary election, voters select between the convention-nominated candidate and the other candidates who qualify through collecting signatures.

Path to the ballot

See also: Laws governing the initiative process in Utah

The state process

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. 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

• The initiative petition was filed with the lieutenant governor on January 9, 2018.
• A fiscal impact statement was provided for the initiative on February 2, 2018.
• Public hearings on the initiative were scheduled for February 5, 2018.
• As of March 26, 2018, the office of the lieutenant governor reported that no signatures had been submitted to it from county clerks for this initiative.
• On April 13th, 2018, Keep my Voice, the proponents of the initiative, released a statement saying that they would not be submitting signatures for this initiative, but were preparing to launch a new initiative in 2020.

See also

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