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SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Republican Party lost a bid in federal court Friday to put on hold a controversial law changing how political parties select nominees, but the GOP's case against the state is far from over.
"Today was just about enjoining the law, not about having the judge rule on the fundamental issues of the case itself," Utah Republican Party Chairman James Evans told reporters after the ruling by U.S. District Judge David Nuffer.
Evans said the party will decide whether to challenge the ruling against its request for a preliminary injunction against SB54 to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals to attempt to make its case stronger.
He said it will be up to delegates to the party's annual convention in August whether to make the changes necessary to meet the requirements of the law passed by the 2014 Legislature as a compromise with leaders of the Count My Vote initiative.
If they don't, Evans said, there will be no Republican candidates on the 2016 ballot.
"That's just a reality we're living with," he said.
Still, Evans said he believes he judge "laid out a roadmap" for securing an injunction to put the law on hold while the case continues by suggesting there may be constitutional concerns about some of new law's requirements.
The ongoing nature of this and the approach the party has taken has continued to be quite divisive.
–Rich McKeown, a co-chairman of Count My Vote
Nuffer said in his ruling the most important issue in the case is a requirement that parties seeking to choose nominees using the current caucus and convention system open up their primary elections to unaffiliated voters.
"This is potentially the only severe burden I see," the judge said, a potential infringement on a political party's right to the freedom of association. Still, he said, "there are alternative paths."
Political parties also have the option of avoiding an open primary by using the new system of signature gathering to qualify candidates for the ballot. Those candidates would be listed as endorsed by the party on the ballot.
Nuffer, who ruled from the bench after some four hours of testimony from attorneys for the party and the state, said the possibility of an invalid election in 2016 "plays into irreparable harm and into the public interest."
State Elections Director Mark Thomas said he was pleased the judge sided with the state so work can go forward in planning for the next statewide election, including a voter outreach campaign explaining the new law.
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SALT LAKE CITY — A federal judge will decide Friday whether to put legislative changes to how political parties select nominees for office on hold pending the outcome of the Utah Republican Party's lawsuit against the state."This is a big issue. I mean, we're talking about the elections in a presidential year and for years after," Thomas said. Asked about the possibility the GOP won't have candidates on the ballot, he said only, "that's up to them."
Rich McKeown, a co-chairman of Count My Vote, said it appears the state Republican Party "is bound and determined to undermine a piece of legislation that is widely supported," including by the GOP-dominated Legislature and GOP Gov. Gary Herbert.
"The ongoing nature of this and the approach the party has taken has continued to be quite divisive," said McKeown, who has served under another leader of the initiative effort, former Gov. Mike Leavitt, a Republican.
The initiative, which would have replaced the caucus and convention system with a direct primary, was withdrawn after leaders reached a compromise with state lawmakers intended to increase voter participation.
Utah Democratic Party Chairman Peter Corroon applauded Nuffer's decision denying the preliminary injunction sought by the GOP and said the Democratic Party is committed "to bringing more Utahns into the political process."
Corroon said Democrats are working to comply with the new election rules under SB54.
In a court filing, Rep. David Lifferth, R-Eagle Mountain, said SB54 "was designed to destroy the Republican Party in Utah" and the party "is being torn apart by people who have admitted that their purpose is to diminish its reach and influence."
Lifferth said in the filing in support of the preliminary injunction he is concerned as he plans his re-election campaign "about how drastically SB54 and its Count My Vote provisions have changed the process for the worse."
