Dear Payson Precinct 06 and WMC 01,
A few changes have been made which have led to many rumors and much confusion. I have done my best to get the answers so our precinct members can be ready to participate in this exciting election year.
I have included a few others who I think may want this information. Everyone feel free to pass this on or take anything from it for your own informative emails.
Presidential Straw Poll at Caucus
This is the first year that we will be including a presidential straw poll at the Caucus on Tuesday March 22. There are a couple of reasons for this change. First, because Utah usually doesn't vote until the end of June, we tend to be ignored by the Presidential Candidates who focus on states who vote first, such as Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina. Second, by the time June comes around the field of candidates has narrowed so much that we may not be able to lend our support to candidates who we like at the beginning of the year. Our early picks may not even be running by the time we get to vote for them. This new method will allow us to throw the support of Utah behind the candidate we truly favor a full three months earlier.
I have been told by members of the State Central Committee that this will be everyone's only opportunity to vote for the Republican Presidential Nominee in the state of Utah in 2016. Recently an official email went out by the communications director Cindie Quintana confirming that this straw poll will be held instead of a Primary. If this is true, you do not want to miss this opportunity to vote for our Republican Nominee. Last week I called the Utah County Clerk office for verification before sending out this email and they said that the primary election has not changed. If there are multiple candidates for President at the time of the Primary Election on June 28th we will be able to choose from among those who are left at that time. I apologize that I cannot get to the bottom of this discrepancy. It is not for a lack of trying. I made several attempts to speak to a higher official at party headquarters and the state office of elections.
In order to accommodate the large number of voters who would like to attend caucus in order to take part in the Presidential Straw Poll, the Party has purchased an app which will allow people to vote from home. The details will not be set until after the State Central Committee meeting on Feb 6, but I know that app has been purchased and I will give more details when they become available.
Changes to our Republican Primary
The Republican Party has had some drastic changes forced upon them just in time for this year's election. A new law was passed called SB54. These changes were accomplished by the efforts of wealthy group beneficiaries calling themselves "Count My Vote" or CMV and a Utah State Senator named Curtis Bramble. You may have heard this new law referred to as "a compromise" in the news. The idea that it was a compromise between the Republican Party and CMV is false and the whole mess is causing much confusion.
You can read the official details to the new law posted by the State Election office here:
http://elections.utah.gov/Media/Default/Documents/Elections%20Resources/SB54%20FAQs%206.0.pdf
Lawsuits and Reactions
Because a Republican Senator, who is in no way qualified or authorized to speak in behalf of the Republican Party, created this back door deal and completely altered the way Republicans are allowed to select the person that will go forward as their own nominee, the Party has since been forced to turn to the courts to fight this with several lawsuits. The Party is arguing that a private organization is protected by the the right to freedom of association and can conduct business within their organization the way they choose. Imagine for example if a Republican Senator were able to pass a new law which ordered the LDS church to follow a new method in selecting their leaders.
The Republican Party won the first lawsuit and the second lawsuit should be decided in the next two weeks, so that they can know how to proceed with the election which begins with the Caucus night in March.
The reason CMV and others such as Curt Bramble felt it necessary to alter Caucus/Convetnion/Primary system which was choicen by our citizens is simply because the Republican Party is so popular in Utah. Everyone seems to forget that the Republican Party has no power to select our future leaders. Their primary elections do nothing but select the person who goes forward to the general election with their name and support. In some areas the Republican Party is popular enough that the general election becomes irrelevant. This is true in statewide elections. The party is being punished for their popularity by those in power wanting to strip them of their ability to be in charge of selecting the person they feel is the best candidate to whom to lend their support.
The Democrat Party of Utah has decided to try to stop the Republican party from pleading their case. You can read about it in the article from the SL Tribune:
http://www.sltrib.com/news/3463790-155/dems-want-gop-stripped-of-party
The Truth About Senator Curtis Bramble's SB54
In 2013 a few, very wealthy, Utahn's (mostly friends of Bob Bennett, who lost his Senate seat in 2010, and several high priced campaign managers) put together a citizen's initiative called "Count My Vote." A citizen's initiative is one way to change a law by getting the support of the public. Their goal was to do away with Utah's Caucus/Convention/Primary system and exchange it for a straight primary only.
They were so certain that they could buy the necessary support with their money that they invested heavily in this scheme. The problem is that a citizen's initiative requires the signatures from 26 out of 29 counties in Utah in order to pass. People in rural areas are harder to gather signatures from because their houses are spread out making door knocking difficult and they don't tend to gather at movies, malls, etc as often as people in the city. Also, if they understand the details to the initiative they know what CMV was wanting would only ensure that rural areas would lose their voice and political power because candidates would no longer need to meet with them or worry about getting their support.
CMV hired people from outside the state to collect signatures by harassing citizens. There is recorded evidence of this and of them telling lies in order to try and get the needed signatures. I've included a couple on examples below.
CMV claimed they got all the signatures they needed, but I personally called all the clerks in the State and found out that they had collected most of their signatures in only three counties, Salt Lake, Utah County, and Cache County. Most of the other counties had no or very few signatures.
In order to save their efforts, in which they had invested lots of money, they worked out a deal with Senator Curt Bramble to create a new state law by way of legislation instead of using their petitions. Curt Bramble called it a compromise between the Republican Party and the CMV group, but that is not true, because the Republican Party was never consulted and they have been trying to undo this deal by lawsuits ever since. Many people are confused wondering why the Republican Party would try to use the law to back out of their deal, but the fact is it was never their deal.
The legislators claim they voted for this law, because they were convinced that CMV had the needed signatures and this was a good way to save the Caucus. This law in no way saves the Caucus. It undermines the Caucus and gives CMV everything they wanted and more. Now the legislators say they can't repeal it or they will be turning their backs on the people who wanted a straight primary. That was done when they passed this law. If the people truly wanted a straight primary, the legislature should have allowed them to have it. I know they did not. Conveniently for CMV they were never asked to show proof of their signature gathering efforts and now no one will ever know the truth. I know that people who hold all the cards have no cause to ask for a compromise. There is no way they had the signatures or they would never have gotten involved in this mess.
Here is the link to a signature collector lying by saying that the petition is for protecting kids lunches instead of for changing our elections: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvsYtqqNMCQ
Here is a 7 min video about the CMV effort: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3BUaMd2jPQ
Changes to our system caused by the original version of SB54
After the passing of SB54, we can still hold our caucus and convention in March and April, which always results in one or two names being put on the primary ballot that we vote on in June. But now, anyone who can collect a percentage of signatures from Registered Republican or Unaffiliated voters in their area can also be added to the ballot.
How many petition signatures do candidates need to collect
The number of signatures candidates need to collect depends on the political office. The requirements are as follows:
- Statewide office (e.g., U.S. Senate, Governor, Attorney General): 28,000 signatures
- U.S. House: 7,000 signatures
- Utah State Senate: 2,000 signatures
- Utah State House: 1,000 signatures
- County office: 3% of the voters permitted to vote in the political party’s primary who live in the district or area
There are several reasons why I think this is a terrible change for the people of Utah
- This can result in an unlimited number of names on our Primary ballot. Imagine having a dozen or more names to choose from and having to find out information about them without the help of the convention system.
- It is not required for these individuals to be vetted by the Republican Party or our delegates in any way.
- Candidates no longer have to receive 50% or more of the vote in order to win an election. With enough names, it is possible to win with only 10% support or even less.
- It is no longer possible for candidates to afford to run an inexpensive campaign, because they would have to pay to get their message out to everyone, by way of more mailers, commercials, robocalls and other campaign advertisements that most people find distasteful and annoying. Our caucus convention system allowed people to meet all the delegates in person. It is possible to run for office with only the fee to run, which is under $1,000. Now it will almost be guaranteed that every race will have to pay for a primary campaign, which I can tell you from personal experience is very expensive for any regular person who would like to serve in their community. Only wealthy people and professional politicians with advanced fundraising skills will be able to run for office in Utah as long as this law stands.
- It is impossible for many of these candidates to collect these signatures themselves. Not only are they too busy with the rest of their campaigning, but some of the required signature amounts are just too high for any one individual. So the signature gathering process is not a way to weed out unsavory candidates from our primary ballot. It is nothing more than a matter of money and does not show support from the people.
- In the past, we could go to the primary election with confidence that the two individuals on the ballot were both well liked by elected delegates. If we couldn't meet with them in person, we can at least know that someone has.
Important Note about petitions
If you sign their a petition for a candidate, you cannot sign a petition for another candidate in that race. In a sense that signature is a vote for that person over any and all others. You also cannot change your mind once signing. I would advise everyone to not sign a single petition. Most likely you will not even know who all the other options might be at the time you are asked to sign.
The First Lawsuit
In the first lawsuit the Judge agreed with some of the Republican Party's complaints and changed the part of the law that stated that Republicans must allow Unaffiliated voters to either vote in their primary election or to sign the petitions for Republican Candidates. Curt Bramble himself told me that this part of the law was very important to him. He wouldn't say why, but I assume it is in order to make signature gathering easier. To me it only meant that the Republican nominees weren't selected by Republicans. Luckily the judge agreed.
The Second Law Suit
About a week ago the second lawsuit was filed in order to give the Republican Primary back the liberty to decide who can be included on their primary ballot. If the party wins this lawsuit they can decide for themselves whether or not to have signature gathering be a part of the process. Once the judge gives this power back to the party, this decision will be made by the delegates and I can tell you now if this passes the signatures will not be accepted from that moment on. They will no longer allow people to buy their way onto our primary ballot by purchasing signatures. Only those properly vetted by our elected delegates through the caucus/convention system will be included. The Party leaders were told they should have an answer in three weeks so they can have the answer before our caucus/convention cycle begins.
This Law makes our election system more like California's
The Governor is known for touting the fact that Utah is the best run state in the nation. He usually credits himself for that success. I credit our caucus/convention system. This state is run by many elected officials, not just one, and each of them have been very carefully elected by our system.
Some of these delegates have spent many volunteer hours over the years getting to know the character of these candidates and watching the voting records of these incumbents. We are so lucky to have a system which requires all candidates to meet face to face and prove what's in the heart and answer for their history and voting records. This system has it's flaws like anything done by humans will ( I will not mention names but I think we can all think of at least one bad guy who has gotten through the process), but it is the system that has made Utah the best-run state in the nation. It would be a shame to trade it away for the system that is used in States like California, where citizens have never had the privilege to meet their elected officials and they have to choose from among a dozen names that they barely recognize. California is not an example of the best-run State in the Nation. But CMV has suggested that we should follow the example of other states and change our election process to be more with the times. I do not agree. Why mess up a good thing.
Thanks for reading, or at least skimming, this long email :)
I hope everyone will take part in our straw poll this year and attend caucus if at all possible.Please let me know if you have any questions.
Tamara Atkin
UCWM Precinct Chair
801-376-7401
