Keep My Voice is abandoning their effort to win a spot on the 2018 ballot.
The group, which sought to repeal Utah’s hybrid nomination system through a ballot initiative, announced on Friday that they would not submit signatures to the Lt. Governor’s office to get their proposal before voters. It’s likely that KMV was nowhere near the 113,000 signatures they needed this year. The deadline for turning in signatures is Monday at 5 pm.
“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 (sic) offer to our communities and the harm Count My Vote is doing to our state politics,” said Keep My Voice co-founder Brandon Beckham in a statement.
Keep My Voice was set up as a counter to Count My Vote, which seeks to further enshrine the dual-path to the ballot for candidates.
KMV organizers had hoped to use the March caucus meetings to the needed 113,000 statewide signatures for a slot on the ballot. However, only 45,000 Republicans turned out for those meetings, which is far short of the needed number. Additionally, a ballot initiative must get signatures equal to 10% of the presidential vote in 26 of the state’s 29 Senate districts.
Sources within the GOP say they’re not surprised by Friday’s announcement as they had indications that Keep My Voice abandoned their efforts to gather signatures shortly after the caucus meetings, as they realized they would not be able to meet the 113,000 signature-threshold.
Keep My Voice organizers say they plan on launching another initiative in 2020.
