- A GOP-led effort to repeal Prop 4 likely won't be on November's ballot.
- The initiative fell short by over 250 signatures in Senate District 15.
- Despite setbacks, GOP vows to continue efforts to repeal Prop 4 in future.
SALT LAKE CITY — A Republican-led effort to repeal Proposition 4 will likely not be on the ballot this November, after the effort fell below the threshold for signatures in the tipping-point Senate district.
The failure to qualify for the ballot is a major blow to the GOP, which had support from President Donald Trump and received more than $4 million from a group aligned with the president to help collect signatures.
The initiative turned in more than 200,000 signatures by the deadline on Feb. 15 and ultimately met signature thresholds in the necessary 26 of the 29 counties. Thousands of Utahns have since removed their names as Better Boundaries — the group that sponsored the original anti-gerrymandering initiative in 2018 — and other groups have campaigned in some of the tightest districts, encouraging voters to rescind their support.
Senate District 15, held by Sen. Kathleen Riebe, D-Cottonwood Heights, has been hanging by a thread since last week, but fell short by more than 250 signatures by Thursday morning, according to unofficial tracking by Morgan and May Public Affairs.
The lieutenant governor has yet to officially declare the initiative insufficient.
Rob Axson, the chairman of the Utah Republican Party and head of the repeal initiative, said the group still has "significant concerns about the practices utilized by the opposition and continues to review the signature validation and removal process."
"Given today's update, we want to thank the hundreds of thousands of Utahns who signed our initiative," he told KSL in a statement. "Utahns spoke loudly in the face on an unprecedented onslaught of biased media coverage, outside influence and judicial interference. Whether now or in the future, by litigation or initiative, we will repeal Prop 4. The fight is not over but just beginning."
Elizabeth Rasmussen, the executive director of Better Boundaries, said it would still help Utahns remove their signatures until the deadline.
"A well-informed voting population leads to better outcomes for everyone," she said. "A majority of Utah voters approved Prop 4 in 2018 and we look forward to the day when Utah voters can finally pick their politicians, not the other way around."
This story will be updated.
