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If a federal judge rules that part of Utah's new election law is unconstitutional, it's possible that candidates for the Legislature may reach the primary ballot by collecting just two signatures.
That's what state elections officials concluded in a legal brief filed Thursday in reaction to U.S. District Judge David Nuffer, who has signaled he may strike down parts of SB54.
That law created a dual track to the primary ballot. Candidates can go through the traditional party convention route or collect signatures. For state House candidates, the threshold is 1,000 signatures of registered voters in their district. For Senate candidates, it is 2,000.
Nuffer believes that is an impossible challenge for some candidates, because the Utah Republican Party requires signatures to come from only registered Republicans. That means in heavily Democratic districts — all in Salt Lake County — GOP candidates may have to get the signatures of more than half the party faithful in their districts.
The Republican Party has repeatedly attacked SB54 because it wants to preserve the convention path as the only way to claim the nomination.
Nuffer will preside over a hearing Monday. In the meantime, he is asking Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox, who oversees elections, and the GOP to issue briefs explaining the possible ramifications if he ruled the thresholds were unconstitutional.
Attorneys for Cox argue that SB54 would still stand if Nuffer knocked down the thresholds, and, as it allows a path to a primary through "signatures," any qualified candidate who shows up with at least two would make the ballot.
Lowered signature threshold "is not necessarily that this is what we are asking for," said Mark Thomas, elections director for the lieutenant governor's office. "But this is what would happen."
The brief suggests the judge could add a percentage threshold of, say, 2 percent or 3 percent, of registered voters, though Thomas acknowledged that would be an aggressive move.
Adjusting signature threshold "kind of stretches, obviously, the role of what a judge can do," Thomas said, "and I think Judge Nuffer recognizes that as well."
The Republican Party disagrees with the state's position and, in its own brief, argues that if the judge decides the signature thresholds are unworkable, then the only path to the primary ballot should be the convention — at least until the Legislature redrafts the law.
Lawmakers decided to take no action on trying to amend SB54 before the 2016 legislative session was set to end Thursday night.
The Utah Democratic Party also issued a brief Thursday in which it agreed with the lieutenant governor's office that the signature path should stand even if deemed unconstitutional because candidates still have the option of seeking a party's nomination at the convention.
So far, 149 candidates have declared they'll collect signatures and the state has already certified 34 as having met the thresholds.
Nuffer focused his concern on state legislative races, but didn't seem to have a problem with signature thresholds for candidates seeking county, statewide or federal offices.