Judge rules against legislative candidate who failed to qualify for primary by 3 signatures

SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah judge ruled against a legislative candidate who sued her county clerk after falling just three signatures short of the threshold to qualify for the primary election ballot.

In a hearing Tuesday afternoon, 3rd District Judge Laura Scott denied Lisa Dean's lawsuit, preventing her from continuing her candidacy in Utah's House District 39.

Dean needed 1,000 signatures to qualify for a primary against incumbent Rep. Ken Ivory, R-West Jordan. Her campaign turned in 1,308 signatures, of which 997 were verified, according to her lawsuit, meaning she fell just three signatures shy of the threshold.

Dean sued and asked a judge to let her on the ballot, arguing the law allowed her to hit a lower threshold of signatures, while also accusing Salt Lake County Clerk Lannie Chapman of not properly verifying some of the signatures she submitted.

The lawsuit, had it been successful, was poised to impact other races in Utah as multiple other candidates also fell short of the threshold for ballot access.

What the candidate argued

Dean was one of several Republican candidates in a crowded race for the Utah House of Representatives. But her campaign hit a dead end earlier this month after she lost at the GOP convention — and after the signatures she submitted to get on the primary ballot were deemed insufficient.

But Dean went to court, asking a judge to let her continue on to a primary. Her lawsuit, filed Monday, claimed at least 25 signatures were not verified because the signatures were not properly dated. State law requires that clerks not certify signatures that do "not have a date of signature next to the signature."

However, Dean argued, at least 11 undated signatures were between other signatures with dates, allowing the clerk to assume the time frame in which they were signed.

The complaint also alleged 91 signatures were not verified because the signer wrote down that they were an independent voter, rather than a Republican. Dean's lawsuit said she believes at least three of those signatures were actually from registered Republicans who wrote "independent" to reflect "their belief that being a Republican in fact means being independent-minded as a voter."

The lawsuit claimed Chapman's office likely dismissed those signatures without actually verifying the party affiliation of the voter.

Dean's lawsuit also alleged she should have qualified for the ballot by meeting a lower threshold of signatures from 2% of all registered Republican voters in the district, or 190 signatures for House District 39. She cited a section of code that applies to registered political parties. The Utah Republican Party is a qualified political party, however, and a separate section of code sets the 1,000-signature threshold for qualified political party candidates in state House races.

But Dean argued the two sections of code create alternate paths for candidates to take, and she asked the court to place her on the ballot for meeting the lower threshold.

How the clerk's office responded

Attorneys for the county clerk pushed back, arguing that Dean "misunderstands" the law. Because the Utah Republican Party is a qualified party, they argued, GOP candidates must meet the 1,000 signature threshold, not the lower threshold of 2%.

The lieutenant governor's office, which oversees elections in the state, also got involved in the suit, arguing that allowing candidates to pick a lower threshold would "create chaos" for election officials.

"If a candidate can select which threshold number of signatures they want to get, you see the problem," Scott Cheney told the judge.

Attorneys also argued Chapman verified each signatory's registered political party based on voter registration data, not based on how they self-identified on the signature forms.

"Chapman did not rely solely on a signer's (political) party designation in determining whether the signer was a registered Republican," they wrote. "Chapman checked each signer's voter registration on the state database and refused to certify those signers who were not registered Republicans."

Overall, they argued, Chapman "followed the law with precision, which is what is required under the statute."

The judge ultimately agreed, dismissing Dean's lawsuit "in its entirety."

What's next?

With Dean's lawsuit denied, that leaves two candidates on the ballot in House District 39 for the November general election — Ivory, a Republican, and Drew Howells, a Democrat.

There will be no primary election in this race.

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