Utah anti-gerrymandering repeal effort loses more support
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A defeated GOP effort to effectively legalize gerrymandering in Utah has missed another petition requirement.
Why it matters: Republican lawmakers may have flummoxed themselves by making citizen initiatives harder to enact in recent years — an effort that the GOP has undertaken nationwide.
The latest: As more voters have removed their names from a ballot measure to repeal Prop 4, Utah's 2018 anti-gerrymandering law, the signature count has fallen below the required threshold in a fifth state Senate district.
How it works: To be placed on a statewide ballot, a proposal must meet specific signature thresholds in 26 of Utah's 29 Senate districts — and state law gives voters 45 days to remove their signatures.
Catch up quick: The GOP-controlled Legislature set those thresholds in 2019, after voters passed three politically progressive measures — including the one this year's failed proposal sought to repeal.
- The others legalized medical cannabis and expanded Medicaid.
- Further changes made it easier for initiative opponents to identify petition signers in removal campaigns, limited how signature gatherers may be paid and added other requirements.
The intrigue: Without those changes, the effort to repeal Prop 4 could have had a better chance of survival.
State of play: Name counts had already missed the thresholds in three districts when county clerks first certified the petitions last month.
- After a campaign by anti-gerrymandering groups to persuade signers to remove their names, a fourth district fell below the signature threshold two weeks ago, killing the proposal.
Driving the news: As of Wednesday morning, Senate District 12, which includes parts of West Valley City and Kearns, also was three signatures short of the threshold.
The bottom line: The ballot measure was the most direct way for the GOP to undo Utah's new congressional map, which created a Democratic-leaning district.
- Instead, candidates are now trying to outflank each other on the left in the coming Democratic primary while Republicans fume.