The Weber County GOP is moving to exclude candidates who gather signatures to get on the ballot from their conventions, which is not legal under state law.
In new party bylaws adopted by the Weber County GOP in April, signature gathering candidates are banned from participating in the party’s nominating conventions. That means any candidate who takes both the signature and convention route to the primary ballot will not get the chance to make their case to Weber County delegates.
According to Article X (page 17) of the party bylaws, “convention only” candidates will be afforded some substantial privileges that are not available to signature gatherers who have already secured a place on the ballot.
For instance:
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Convention-only candidates will be allowed to have a booth at the convention, while those who gather signatures will not.
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Convention-only candidates will be given a speaking slot at the convention. Signature-gathering candidates will be excluded.
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Signature gathering candidates won’t appear on the ballot for the delegate vote, even if they’ve officially declared that they are using both methods to try and qualify for the primary election.
Additionally, if a candidate decides to use both paths to the ballot, but fails to get enough signatures to qualify, the bylaws seemingly still exclude them from the convention route, unless they can provide proof they withdrew from the signature path with the state elections office.
The move would prevent a candidate who is already on the primary ballot from eliminating a convention only candidate at the convention, thus securing the nomination and avoiding a primary. For example, Rep. Mike Winder defeated former Rep. Fred Cox at the 2016 Salt Lake County GOP convention. Winder had already won a slot on the ballot by gathering signatures, while Cox was only using the convention process. Winder’s victory avoided a primary election.
There’s one big problem with what the Weber County GOP is trying to do. Barring signature-gathering candidates from the convention appears to be illegal under the SB54 compromise which established the dual-path to the primary ballot. So, it seems, that the Weber County GOP has adopted rules for nominating their candidates that are expressly forbidden by state law.
Mark Thomas, director of the Utah Elections Office, tells UtahPolicy.com that the Utah State GOP makes the ultimate decision whether to become a Qualified Political Party, which gives candidates the choice of either pursuing the signature or convention route or both. If a party does not allow both routes, then they are a Registered Political Party, and the only path to the ballot for candidates is by gathering signatures. If the Utah GOP decides to preserve the caucus/convention system in 2018 by allowing candidates to use both routes, then the Weber County GOP’s bylaws would conflict.
“If a state party certifies their intent to be a Qualified Political Party, then it would apply throughout the whole party organization,” says Thomas. “There is no separate filing or designation for county political parties as they all fall under the state political party registration.”
The Utah GOP must decide if they are going to be a QPP or an RPP next month. If they pick the QPP route, then the Weber County GOP would not be allowed to ban candidates from the convention.
“If a political party certifies to our office their intent to be a QPP and yet they don’t comply with the requirements of a QPP, it does present issues,” said Thomas.
Weber County GOP Chair Lynda Pipkin did not respond to requests to comment for this story.
