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SALT LAKE CITY — An application to circulate the Count My Vote initiative establishing direct primary elections in Utah was filed Wednesday with the lieutenant governor's office.
"This issue has been debated publicly for many years, but now is the time for the people of Utah to decide," backers of the initiative wrote in an application letter to Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox.
Direct primaries are intended to "improve voter participation, enhance candidates' access to the ballot, require nominees to show a sufficiently broad level of support, and ensure the integrity and reliability of the election process," the letter states.
The letter was signed by the initiative sponsors, former Gov. Mike Leavitt, former first lady Norma Matheson, Utah Jazz owner Gail Miller, Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams and Count My Vote executive co-chairman Rich McKeown.
Before signatures can be gathered to put the initiative on the 2018 general election ballot, the state must conduct reviews of its financial and legal impact. Backers are also required to hold public hearings around the state.
Once the initiative gets the go-ahead from the state, more than 113,000 signatures from at least 26 of Utah's 29 state Senate districts will have to be collected and certified by next April 15 to qualify for the ballot.
The initiative was first circulated for the 2014 general election ballot but withdrawn after backers reached a compromise with state lawmakers known as SB54 that offered a new path to the primary ballot.
The compromise preserved the ability of political parties to nominate candidates through the traditional caucus and convention system while allowing candidates to skip the system and instead gather voter signatures.
But the Utah Republican Party sued the state to stop SB54. The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver heard oral arguments in the GOP's appeal of an earlier loss in federal court on Monday.
The new version of the initiative filed Wednesday reduces the percentage of voter signatures that must be gathered and allows for runoff elections if no candidates gets at least 35 percent in a primary. Email: lroche@ksl.com Twitter: DNewsPolitics
