An anti-affirmative action resolution that blew in out of nowhere in mid-February now has Republican lawmakers scrambling to gather enough votes to place the Constitutional amendment on November's ballot.
During the weekend, an unsigned letter bearing the elephant logo from the state Republican Party went to area voters, telling them to contact Rep. Jim Bird, R-West Jordan and Rep. Becky Edwards, R-North Salt Lake to change their positions on Rep. Curtis Oda's HJR24.
"I did hear from four or five people," Edwards said. "They were split down the middle."
Oda's resolution proposes amending the state Constitution to bar any preferential treatment in Utah's universities or government jobs and contracts based on gender or race.
Edwards said she's well aware of a concerted push to get the necessary 50 House votes before the Legislative session winds down Thursday -- a two-thirds majority in both chambers is needed to put a Constitutional question to voters.
While the anti-quota concept has been a plank in the state GOP platform since 2008 and won broad support in the House Republican Caucus, Democrats oppose HJR24, questioning the problem it aims to solve and the need to adjust the state's highest law.
But Monday evening, Rep. Greg Hughes, R-Draper said Oda is within a vote or two of having the needed votes.
"They are just a whisker away of getting it up on the board," Hughes said. Monday was the last day for each chamber to consider its own bills but rules can be suspended to allow a few more to be considered.
College Republicans have gone door-to-door in various districts to support the measure, Hughes added.
Former Salt Lake County GOP chairman and former state Sen. James Evans stands in strong support of the legislation. As an African-American growing up in South Carolina during the 1960s and 1970s, he knew discrimination firsthand. Even so, he said, "We need to update our remedies regarding equity."
He added that some want him to replace Edwards in the Legislature, adding "I've been aggressively pursued to run in my district," Evans said, "and it had a lot to do with this issue."
