Organizers behind a ballot initiative known as Count My Vote are planning to restart their efforts this week.
Count My Vote would lower thresholds for candidates who want to get signatures to compete in a primary race. It would also weaken the state party’s caucus convention system preserved through a compromise known as S.B. 54.
That compromise allowed candidates to either collect signatures or pursue the caucus nominating route to get on the ballot.
The Utah GOP, backed by its more conservative members, have been litigating S.B. 54 for years in order to maintain the party’s influence in elections.
In a recent interview, Rich McKeown, a co-chair of Count My Vote, said the pushback from some Republican delegates had made them more inclined to go straight to voters.
“There’s been a lot of activism against S.B. 54,” he said. “Those are the things that are concerning. And those are the things that we look at as we try to preserve what we think were significant gains for the voters.”
Count My Vote will need file with the Lieutenant Governor’s office and collect more than 100,000 signatures to qualify for the November 2018 ballot.
