PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 16, 2018
UNCOUNTED BALLOTS AND RESCISSION SHENANIGANS SHOW POOR PROCESS
Salt Lake City, UT – Following the revelation that over 150 ballot initiative signature packets were missing or otherwise went uncounted a day after clerks were required to have verified signatures and signature rescissions, Josh Kanter, founder and board chair of good-government group, Alliance for a Better Utah, released the following statement:
“The fact that signature packets are missing, or that critical counties failed to count a large number of packets before the due date, is an egregious abdication of duty under the law, and we commend Lieutenant Governor Cox for his transparency and quick action to hold those responsible accountable and to defend the integrity of the ballot initiative process.
“It is possible that these problems, whether intentional or inadvertent, wouldn’t matter but for the rescission process created by the legislature that we have now witnessed in action over the past four weeks. What is imminently clear is that the process must be fixed so that any rescission effort is concurrent with the signature gathering effort to provide all interested parties a level playing field from which to make their case to the public.
“Hundreds of thousands of Utah voters have let their voices be heard by signing various ballot initiative petitions over the past several months. Those initiatives, if certified by the Lt. Governor, should now be forwarded to the voters as the law intended. Proponents and opponents alike now have until November to make their case to the voters, without using unsubstantiated claims, weaknesses in the law, or underhanded tactics, to keep these initiatives from the ballot.”
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Alliance for a Better Utah is a good government advocacy and watchdog organization based in Salt Lake City. The organization works to improve the lives of all Utahns by ensuring balance, transparency, and accountability in Utah politics, policy, and government. More information at www.betterutah.org.