PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 19, 2019
Salt Lake City, UT – Today, Alliance for a Better Utah sent a letter to the office of Utah’s Lieutenant Governor asking that action be taken in response to the Utah Republican Party’s failure to remove an illegal bylaw on their books. In the letter, Better Utah also requested that any review of the issue be done by a neutral third-party to avoid the conflict of interest arising from Spencer Cox’s race for the gubernatorial nomination from the Utah GOP.
The bylaw, voted on again this past weekend, bans Republican candidates who choose to gather signatures from being eligible for the primary ballot, in direct opposition to state election law. In an article in the Salt Lake Tribune published Sunday, new party chair Derek Brown said that unlike his predecessor, he would not ignore the illegal bylaw, but that he expected the Lt. Governor would not decertify the Republican Party and the Legislature would not allow the Party to be decertified.
Chase Thomas, executive director for Alliance for a Better Utah, issued the following statement:
“We are extremely concerned that the Utah GOP continues to play this game with our state’s election laws. Our hope is that the State Elections Office takes this matter seriously. No party or its candidates should be above the law and any perception that this matter is being ‘swept under the rug’ to protect the majority party’s interests will damage public trust in our state’s democratic process.
“We praise the Lt. Governor for the work he has done in fairly running our state’s elections. But in order to preserve that same public trust, we would encourage him to have this matter reviewed by a third-party arbiter as he previously indicated he would do. An independent review completed with the utmost transparency will show the public that no political party is above the law.”
The letter can be found here.
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Alliance for a Better Utah is a nonprofit that holds politicians accountable and advocates for progressive policies that make Utah an even better place. The organization improves the lives of all Utahns through advocacy, transparency, and accountability in Utah politics, policy, and government. More information at www.betterutah.org.