The arm-wrestling continues in Utah’s redistricting fight.
Prominent Utah Republicans are now launching two signature-gathering efforts to allow lawmakers to repeal Proposition 4, the 2018 citizen-approved redistricting standards at the heart of the current legal battle, as well as eliminate the Legislature’s recently approved congressional map that had been backed by the state GOP.
The groups that sued the state originally over the maps are asking a judge to stop the effort to repeal Prop 4, calling it an end-run attempt.
Things had been marching along in the court-ordered redrawing of the state’s congressional maps ahead of the Nov. 10 deadline. Lawmakers begrudgingly proposed a new map, and plaintiffs submitted two of their own options to the courts. A judge is slated to hear arguments and decide which map to choose.
Several high-profile Republicans, including State Party Chair Rob Axson, former U.S. Rep. Rob Bishop and Utah Attorney General Derek Brown, filed paperwork with the Lt. Governor’s Office to start the process for an indirect initiative that would let lawmakers vote on repealing Prop 4. Utah Third District Court Judge Dianna Gibson reinstated Prop 4 in her August ruling that the Legislature had unconstitutionally repealed it and replaced it with its own weaker version.
The group needs signatures from 4% of active Utah voters, or more than 70,000, by Nov. 15. That’s half the amount needed for a citizen ballot initiative where the issue goes before voters. The signatures must also come from at least 26 of the state’s 29 Senate Districts.
If they succeed, the issue goes before lawmakers instead of before voters.
The League of Women Voters of Utah, Mormon Women for Ethical Government and a handful of Utah voters want a judge to intervene.
“The indirect initiative application submitted to the Lieutenant Governor proposes an unconstitutional law — that the Legislature again repeal Proposition 4,” attorneys for the plaintiffs wrote in an Oct. 15 court filing. “But cloaking that repeal in the ‘indirect initiative’ process does not convert it from unconstitutional to constitutional.”
They are asking Gibson to stop Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson from approving the initiative application, giving out signature sheets and submitting the measure to lawmakers. Their lawyers say the GOP’s move violates Utahns’ constitutional right to alter and reform their government. The attorneys argue the indirect initiative route only exists in statute, whereas the Utah Constitution only mentions citizen initiatives decided by Utah voters.
“This latest gambit is not the end-run around the Constitution that its proponents believe. The Constitution creates one category of initiatives: those decided by the People by majority vote. Government reform initiatives adopted by majority vote are entitled to constitutional protections.”
The Utah Supreme Court previously ruled in this case that Utahns have a constitutional right to change their government through initiatives, and the Legislature can’t alter those. The exception is if lawmakers are narrowly doing so to advance a compelling government interest, but the court didn’t find that standard was met in the Prop 4 case.
“A small minority of voters cannot permit the Legislature, using a statutory mechanism, to violate the constitutional rights of a majority of Utah voters who enacted Proposition 4,” the plaintiffs’ attorneys wrote.
Axson called the plaintiffs’ complaint about the indirect initiative, “the height of arrogance and hypocrisy.”
“You cannot celebrate the rule of law when it serves you and undermine it when others use those same tools,” he said in a statement to KUER.
“The courts and the people’s initiative process belong to all Utahns — and are laid out in the law. If their ideas truly stand on principle, they should welcome debate, not hide behind legal gamesmanship to deny Utahns who disagree with them from being heard.”
The other effort by the group of notable Utah Republicans is a citizen referendum to eliminate the map lawmakers recently approved. It requires signatures from 8% of active Utah voters, or almost 150,000, from 15 of the state’s 29 Senate districts by Nov. 15. If successful, it would go on the 2026 ballot, but the map lawmakers approved would also be put on hold until after that vote.
Lt. Gov. Henderson told the Salt Lake Tribune and Utah News Dispatch she’s worried about the chaos the referendum and initiative add, and the problems they could cause for administering the election.
Besides the two new signature-gathering initiatives, the plaintiffs have also asked Gibson to block guidelines that lawmakers codified to measure congressional map fairness.
In a court filing, plaintiffs called the law “a wolf in sheep’s clothing” and stated it “guts Prop 4.” They argue the tests are not appropriate for Utah, where one party so heavily dominates statewide elections, and that the standards will produce maps skewed to favor Republicans. Gibson gave the Legislature a deadline of Oct. 22 to submit their counterargument to the plaintiffs’ claims. Plaintiffs will submit their reply by Oct. 29. They’ll then meet in court Nov. 3 to argue their sides.
Outside of these maneuvers, both sides will argue for their congressional maps in hearings scheduled for Oct. 23 and 24. Gibson has said she’ll rule before Nov. 10, which is when the Lt. Governor’s Office says it needs a map in place to use it in the 2026 midterms.
