GOP lawmakers say primary election plurality issue should be resolved by party

SALT LAKE CITY — The leaders of a legislative interim committee studying what should be done if a primary winner doesn't receive a majority of votes under a new nominating system said Wednesday political parties should decide who advances.

"In my opinion, that should return to the party," Rep. Jack Draxler, R-North Logan, the House chairman of the Legislature's Government Operations Interim Committee, said after a hearing on proposals to deal with the plurality issue.

The possibility a candidate could win a primary election with less than 50 percent of the vote became an issue with SB54, a bill passed to stop the Count My Vote initiative to replace the state's unique caucus and convention nominating system.

The controversial compromise approved by the 2014 Legislature allows political parties to continue to use that system to nominate candidates while creating an alternative path to the primary ballot by gathering voter signatures.

The Utah Republican Party is fighting in court to overturn the law, which takes effect for the 2016 election. On Saturday, however, GOP delegates voted to comply with the law so the party can advance candidates to the ballot next year.

At Wednesday's hearing, committee members were told by state Elections Director Mark Thomas there are limited options for ensuring only candidates with a majority of the vote appear on the general election ballot.

Those options include holding a runoff election between the top vote-getters, but that has a price tag of at least $2.5 million, Thomas said. He also said the election schedule would have to be adjusted to accommodate the additional ballot.

That could mean limiting the time county clerks and the state have to certify the results of the June 28 primary so a runoff election could be held on Aug. 30, something Thomas deemed "very risky."

Another option would be to follow the lead of five Southern states and have military and overseas voters rank their candidate preferences so they would not need to vote again in a runoff election.

That would allow a runoff election, if needed, to be held Aug. 16, Thomas said. He said setting up a system to accommodate ranked voting carries a cost of $20 million to $30 million, plus additional costs to educate voters.

No action was taken by the committee, but after seeing the expense and the timelines needed for a runoff election, Draxler said he prefers turning over the choice to political parties.

"Let's remember it's the party's nominee," he said. "Some people may say, 'Well that puts the person who may have gotten on the primary ballot by the petition process at a disadvantage.' I simply say, 'Well, they chose that process.'"

The committee's Senate chairwoman, Sen. Margaret Dayton, R-Orem, said she agreed with Draxler.

"I think we need to empower the parties. I think we need to strengthen them and allow them to have a voice," Dayton said.

However, House Minority Caucus Manager Patrice Arent, D-Millcreek, saw it differently.

"I don't think returning to the party makes sense, particularly in light of the support of SB54," Arent said. "I think that really dilutes what we intended to do there and does not make good sense for the public and public input." Email: lroche@ksl.com Twitter: DNewsPolitics