What’s going on in Utah?
In 2018, Utah voters approved a ballot measure to combat gerrymandering by empowering an independent redistricting commission to draw their voting maps, taking politicians out of the process entirely.
Politicians pushed back and attempted to alter the anti-gerrymandering provisions, but the Utah Supreme Court recently ruled that the lawmakers did not have the authority to do so.
Now, these politicians are trying to sidestep the Court and amend the state’s constitution to give themselves the power to rewrite or scrap entirely any previously citizen-approved ballot measures.
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Utah is a test case for this dangerous idea
Citizen-led ballot measures have long been used by voters to force change when politicians fail to act. Positive voter reforms like Ranked Choice Voting, independent redistricting commissions, campaign finance reform, and even things like women’s suffrage and marriage equality might never have become law if not for ballot measures.
If politicians are successful at taking power away from the voters here, this idea will spread to other states. With your help, we can mobilize Utah voters to reject Utah lawmakers’ proposal this November and stop this idea in its tracks.
Other places around the country like Missouri, Arizona, and Ohio are also flirting with the idea of taking power away from the citizen-led ballot measure process.
A win for corrupt politicians in Utah could emboldened corrupt politicians everywhere.
Can we count on you to step up?