Organizers for Count My Vote say they will appeal to the Utah Supreme Court to win inclusion on the November ballot. Our “Political Insiders” think that legal effort will be successful.
CMV fell short of the required signature numbers to get on the ballot by less than 600 signatures across three Senate districts. If they can find enough signatures that were improperly invalidated, they’ll succeed.
Some argue that Utah’s signature requirements for ballot initiatives are too restrictive. The state requires ballot backers to gather 113,000 signatures statewide, as well as 10% of the vote from the last presidential election in 26 of Utah’s 29 Senate districts. Additionally, opponents have a month after signatures are turned in to convince Utahns to remove their name from the petition. That process, spearheaded by the Keep My Voice organization, resulted in CMV falling below the threshold for ballot inclusion.
Additionally, some of our “insiders” speculate that the Utah Supreme Court could rule the state’s requirements for getting on the ballot are too stringent, as Utah’s Constitution allows for citizens to use the petition process to make law.
Our “Political Insiders” mostly say CMV’s appeal to the Utah Supreme Court will be successful. 62% of the Republicans on our panel, as well as 53% of the Democrats and 56% of our readers say they expect the Utah Supreme Court will rule in favor of Count My Vote.
Organizers for Count My Vote say they plan to appeal to the Utah Supreme Court after they narrowly failed to make November’s ballot. Do you think Count My Vote will prevail in their legal challenge?
Selected anonymous comments:
They won’t but they should. That opponents get to undo after the fact a petition is just wrong on so many levels.
It certainly sounds like there were a lot of shenanigans going on with this process. There is overwhelming support for this initiative, so I certainly hope the Court will rule the public should have a say in it. Of course, the Keep My Power people will go ballistic if that happens.
The whole thing is funny. No one on either side of this ridiculous issue wants to follow the rules. CMV failed to gather the qualified signatures. Now they are acting like Democrats and using legal route to try to get on the ballot after spending $1 million.
This has always been an option. Keep My Voice cleared the path for the legal challenge with some of their antics getting people to remove their names from the petition.
The law is flawed, and it’s up to the courts now to set things straight. A Legislative fix is too far out and too iffy. Let’s let the third branch of government do their job. (Do any justices read UtahPolicy.com? Let’s hope so.)
The law needs to change for allowing how signatures are removed from a ballot. There were some very shady practices used to remove names, but it’s not the Utah Supreme Court’s place to change the law.
The county clerks messed up. The court will fix it.
The Utah Supreme Court will see the folly in the Goodfellas’ ways and reverse the insidious machinations that have resulted in the current situation.
Courts tend to err on the side of ballot access. Tie goes to the runner.
CMV lost, get over it. Should have collected as many signatures as the other initiatives and not ignored 3 Senate Districts and it wouldn’t have been an issue.
Stick a fork in CMV. They lost.
Utah’s Supreme Court has consistently expressed their love of direct democracy. For better or for worse.
CMV validated signatures before submitting them, yet 20,000 were removed as invalid registrations. CMV only has to demonstrate that 600 of 20,000 registered voters were disqualified improperly (a rate of only 3%) to convince the court to reinstate the initiative…a rate that seems low given the complete incompetence of the Utah County clerk alone.
Never underestimate the power of money. Count My Vote is all about purchasing seats in Congress for their elite cronies. The money will talk, and the Supreme Court will bow to the will of the rich.
Flawed law. 135K want Utahns to decide the issue, and 600 people can railroad it? Makes no sense. Plus, the Court is not making law just giving the people of Utah the chance to decide, which will make it easier for the Court to rule to add the issue to the ballot.
If CMV can provide proof of sufficient signatures turned in, but not counted by the clerks, then it’s going to be difficult to keep them off the ballot.
If the Utah Supreme Court will allow Count My Vote to be placed on the ballot in November…Good for us! I would pay money to see the “Gang of Fifty” go apoplectic. ♫ Na-na-na-na-nana! ♫ Whoops! I just entered my third childhood.
I think this is a double whammy really. The legislature will lose the high hurdle for the initiative and lose SB54. Lose-lose for sure.
The opponents of Count My Vote (and the legislature’s extremely-stringent requirements for citizen initiatives) clearly violate the Utah Constitution’s requirements that the people are empowered – along with the legislature – to make the laws that govern the state.
It is popular, and it is right. 300 people in some random district should not be able to silence over 100000 others.
I think the Utah Supreme Court should ensure that all signatures were counted. That is their duty. I don’t trust that the Lt. Gov’s office found and counted all of the missing signature packets, as is their duty.
This whole feud needs to end. Good sportsmanship needs to prevail on both sides.
What is the problem here? Are the supporters of Buy My Vote incapable of doing simple math? If you don’t have the required number of votes in the required number of districts, then you don’t go on the ballot. Seems perfectly clear to me.
Courts typically err on the side of inclusion.
