Rampant gerrymandering has left the boundaries of Utah’s four congressional districts looking like someone dropped their phone and the screen has cracked. Our current districts are drawn in such a way that majority-Democratic areas have been divided like slices of pie, lending Republican representatives an unfair advantage and deliberately devaluing the votes of a large number of Utahns.
Join us in our support of the Better Boundaries ballot initiative, which demands the installation of an independent redistricting commission. The nonpartisan commission will ensure that the 2021 redistricting session results in boundaries are proportionally representative, thereby reducing polarization and bolstering civic engagement.
Learn more about the Better Boundaries campaign, the initiative seeking to create fair redistricting standards and an independent redistricting commission.
Utah Redistricting 2020, a nonpartisan group of concerned citizens, has tons of information and news about redistricting and gerrymandering in Utah.
How do we get fair districts and keep communities together?
Every ten years, the lines for our voting districts are drawn. Depending on how the maps are made, the lines can strengthen or separate a community. When a community is sliced apart, their voices are minimized, and elected officials have no incentive to listen to them. A community that is …
45 days of intensity
After 45 days of an intense legislative session, I think many of us can agree that it feels more like we’ve aged a few years. These seven weeks brought both the highs that reinvigorated our passion for the issues we fight for, as well as the humbling lows that on …
Press Release: Better Utah statement on Prop 4 bill
PRESS RELEASEFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 11, 2020 Salt Lake City, UT – Today, S.B. 200, Redistricting Amendments, passed the House with only four nay votes. Lauren Simpson, policy director for Alliance for a Better Utah, issued the following statement: “We always appreciate bipartisan collaboration on the Hill, and we are …
Utah Legislature approves Better Boundaries deal
This article originally appeared in the Deseret News. Read it in its entirety here. SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Legislature has officially signed off on a deal struck between lawmakers and backers of a voter-approved citizens initiative creating an independent redistricting commission to recommend new legislative, congressional and State School Board boundaries following the census every decade. The Utah House …
Lawmakers try to alter voter-approved redistricting reforms
This article originally appeared in the Washington Post. Read it in its entirety here. JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — With the census approaching, lawmakers in some states are attempting to alter recent voter-approved measures that were intended to reduce partisan gamesmanship when drawing new voting districts for the U.S. House and …
Anti-gerrymandering compromise garners unanimous support from Utah Senate
This article originally appeared in the Salt Lake Tribune. Read it in its entirety here. A proposed rewrite of the state’s anti-gerrymandering law glided through the Utah Senate on Tuesday, leaving in the rearview the tense negotiations that forged it. “Well, senators, this is the bill that was so controversial, …
Press Release: Alliance for a Better Utah statement on Prop 4 compromise
PRESS RELEASEFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 26, 2020 Salt Lake City, UT – Today, lawmakers and Better Boundaries came to a compromise on the Prop 4 replacement bill. Chase Thomas, executive director of Alliance for a Better Utah, issued the following statement: “A majority of Utahns passed Proposition 4 to prevent …
Deal reached between lawmakers, Better Boundaries on redistricting
This article originally appeared in the Deseret News. Read it in its entirety here. SALT LAKE CITY — A deal has been struck between lawmakers and backers of a voter-approved citizens initiative creating an independent redistricting commission to recommend new legislative, congressional and State School Board boundaries following the census every decade. “We have a deal in principle,” said Rebecca Chavez-Houck, …