Inside a packed committee room at the Utah State Capitol, lawmakers refused to hear Republicans’ experience with the party’s March presidential preference poll.
“I'll just say I am genuinely disappointed, truly, deeply disappointed,” Republican Sen. Daniel Thatcher said about the move to remove the item from the agenda of the Government Operations Interim Committee. It was the second time the topic had been pushed.
“We have people who came here today who just want to be heard, who want to be able to speak up.”
Rather than hold a primary election on Super Tuesday, the Utah Republican Party opted for a presidential preference poll that had its share of hiccups.
There were technology failures, and people complained about the long lines or that the process overall was complicated. Some left because of the wait or couldn’t attend because of accessibility issues. Others called for the end of the caucus.
In the end, less than 10% of registered Republicans – the largest voting bloc in the state – cast a ballot for Donald Trump or Nikki Haley. Trump went on to beat Haley 56% to 43%.
The Republican-led committee was supposed to hear an analysis of what happened with the caucus. A presentation of voter feedback was created by Daryl Acumen, former vice chair of the Utah County Republican Party, there was also an assessment from the nonprofit Disability Law Center and scheduled public comment.
But the conversation ended before it could even start.
Republican Rep. Stephanie Gricius motioned to strike the item from the agenda and remove all accompanying meeting materials. That included Acumen’s presentation, the Disability Law Center assessment and relevant legislation.
While Gricius said she is “more than happy” to discuss the presidential preference poll, she argued the committee “is not the appropriate place” for the conversation.
“We have materials that impugn members of the public, which I find to air personal grievances is both inappropriate and a waste of time for both this committee as well as the general public,” she said.
After the preference poll, Acumen surveyed GOP voters. According to the presentation, he sent 410,356 text messages asking voters to rate their experience on a scale of one to five. One was “very unsatisfied” and five was “very satisfied.”
More than 60% rated it a one or a two and 13.9% gave their experience a five. From KUER’s previous reporting, people in urban areas seemed to have more issues than those in rural areas.
Acumen's presentation included collected comments about the preference poll from respondents.
The Disability Law Center review found “numerous obstacles hindering the voting process” for Utahns with disabilities and “none of the caucus meetings visited satisfied a simple list of standards for physical access and basic accommodations.”
“With facilities and accommodations failing to meet their needs, voters faced unsafe conditions, were denied equal access to information, or were unable to fully participate in selecting party leaders and/or cast their presidential preference vote,” the report read.
After reviewing Acumen's presentation, Republican Rep. Kay Christofferson felt there was “extreme bias” in the analysis and that it was “not very objective.”
“I just don't feel like the meeting materials suit our needs,” he said in conclusion.
If the committee refused to hear the prepared presentations or from members of the public, Thatcher warned that would make the Legislature look “a whole lot worse.” He also stated that he wanted to hear if Utah upheld its constitutional duty to run an election that allowed eligible voters to participate and if the state violated any civil liberties.
“So I think it's important that we be willing to listen today without prejudice, that we be willing to allow people to speak even if we disagree with what they might have to say.”
Instead of omitting the conversation entirely, Thatcher unsuccessfully motioned to strike Acumen's presentation.
Gricius said since the meeting material has been public for a few days, “it's already tainted the conversation.”
“In my opinion, [it] removes the ability to have an objective, fact-based conversation about what is an important issue,” she said. “So this is an issue I would like to see heard, but we need to come at it from a clean slate, and we cannot do this today.”
The committee ultimately voted to skip the discussion. Thatcher was the lone opposition vote.
It’s unclear when – or if – lawmakers will have the conversation about the presidential caucus in the future.
