The big guns came out Saturday in the bitter public battle over the citizen initiative petition Count My Vote.
Just as the Utah Jazz continue their post-season fight, now Jazz owner Gail Miller is, along with former GOP Gov. Mike Leavitt, going after the Keep My Voice effort to decertify the CMV petition.
In robocalls going into homes of CMV petition signees, Leavitt and Miller (the CMV leaders) “warn” Utahns of “dishonest – even threatened or bullied” tactics by anti-CMV, GOP advocates.
As reported Friday in UtahPolicy, Dave Bateman and the anti-SB54, anti-CMV, caucus-only advocates have begun an organized campaign trying to get CMV signees to remove their name.
A KMV spokesperson took credit for the disputed anti-CMV robocall during Friday’s KSL Radio’s Doug Wright show.
The Leavitt/Miller robocall does identify Count My Vote as paying for their pro-petition effort.
Both calls are going into the homes of folks who signed the Count My Vote petition – which last week achieved enough voter signature numbers to make the November ballot.
The Bateman/KMV robocall claims CMV petition gathers deceived signees, may be guilty of fraud and asks the signees to take their names OFF of the CMV petition — and report any unpleasantness to the Utah Election Office.
Already there are claims that the anti-CMV robocall is, in itself, deceptive as it purports that a mailer sent out by Keep My Voice is approved by the Lieutenant Governor’s Election Office.
No so, Elections Office bosses say.
KMV followed current election law in asking for CMV signees to remove their signatures – and that law is enforced by the elections office.
But the office didn’t specifically approve of the KMV robocall or postcards.
Meanwhile, the new Saturday, Count My Vote, robocall has Leavitt and Miller criticizing efforts by Bateman/KMV.
The CMV call also asks listeners to call the Utah Elections Office if they feel they are being deceived by Bateman/KMV.
Besides the back and forth battle over CMV signatures, both efforts could be laying the groundwork for court action:
— Bateman/KMV claiming foul if Count My Vote is ultimately certified to the November ballot.
— CMV/Leavitt/Miller claiming election law violations if KMV can get enough Count My Vote signees to remove their names, and thus keep CMV off the ballot.
There is some serious stuff going on here, folks.
For at its heart this is a fight over whether voters will get the chance to enshrine into law the current SB54 – a 2014 legislative compromise that says candidates can gather signatures to get on a party primary ballot, go through the old caucus/delegate/convention process to make the ballot, or take both routes at the same time.
The Utah GOP has lost several rounds in state and federal court over SB54 – basically bankrupting the party in legal fees before Bateman stepped in to “acquire” the attorneys’ debt, and continue the party’s legal fight in the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Think back, if you will, to the plight of former GOP Attorney General John Swallow.
Way before prosecutors charged Swallow with 12 felonies.
Even before the Utah House of Representatives’ special impeachment investigation committee’s negative report on Swallow.
It was the Utah Elections Office investigation of Swallow’s campaign that led Swallow to resign his office.
Yep, it was the LG’s office that got to Swallow.
So citizen complaints to the office over this latest petition battle could lead to some charges.
Or at the least, misconduct by either group could help a judge decide whether to certify Count My Vote to the November ballot, if CMV falls just short.
Or keep it off, it CMV signature counts hold up.
For now, Bateman/Keep My Voice have until May 15 – or a week from Tuesday – to convince enough CMV petition signees to take their names off the petition to keep the candidate dual-pathway petition away from voters this fall.
June 1 is when the Elections Office leaders decide if any of the four citizen initiative petitions have enough signatures to make the November ballot.
But the CMV fight could, also, end up in court before voters get a chance to decide the matter at the polls.
