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If no candidate wins a majority in a partisan primary election — which is possible after recent changes in Utah law — some key legislators said Wednesday that the nominee selection should then be thrown back to party delegates.

Critics of such a plan say that would circumvent the intent of a new law, SB54, a compromise that sought to dilute the power of sometimes-extremist party delegates.

That debate came as the Legislature's Government Operations Interim Committee looked Wednesday at numerous ways to stage run-off elections, but found that most are either too expensive, complicated or time-consuming. The panel did not vote on a preferred method.

"After seeing these figures and the logistics and the timelines, it is my opinion that the only two options that are really feasible are to do nothing" and allow whoever wins a non-majority plurality to advance, "or to return to the parties" to select a nominee, said Committee House Chairman Jack Draxler, R-North Logan.

"A primary election is to select a party's nominee for the general election," he said. So if no one wins a majority there, "it should be returned to the party. Let's remember it's the party's nominee."

The committee's Senate Chairwoman, Sen. Margaret Dayton, R-Orem, agreed.

"I think we need to empower the parties. I think we need to strengthen them and allow them to have a voice" by returning to a convention for a run-off, she said.

Rep. Patrice Arent, D-Millcreek, was on the other side of the issue.

She said returning a run-off choice to delegates goes against the intent of SB54. "I think that really dilutes what we intended to do there, and does not make good sense for the public."

Arent favors simply allowing a plurality victor to advance to the final election.

SB54 was a compromise to stop the Count My Vote ballot initiative to allow voters to choose party nominees in an open primary. Initiative organizers said party delegates are often more extreme than mainstream voters, and an open primary would tend to weed out extremist candidates.

The initiative would have eliminated the need for party conventions where, unless one candidate receives at least 60 percent of delegate votes, the two top vote-getters face off in a primary.

Under the SB54 compromise signed into law, candidates now can appear on a primary ballot either by gathering a required number of signatures or by going through the traditional convention process and it could lead to many candidates with a greater likelihood of none winning a majority.

Utah Republican Chairman James Evans supports the idea of allowing delegates to decide a run-off. He said SB54 "gives voters a chance to choose the nominee. But if party voters can't resolve the issue with a majority, it should go back to the party."

Sen. Lyle Hillyard, R-Logan, doesn't see a problem with plurality winners — and said former Gov. Norm Bangerter and former Sen. Frank Moss, D-Utah, each won with mere pluralities in general elections because of third-party candidates. Former Gov. Mike Leavitt did, too.

Hillyard suggested the possibility of allowing the top two vote winners, in cases where no one wins a majority, to advance to the general elections. So possibly two Republicans could face a Democrat there, for example.

He said in heavily Republican Utah, many say the GOP primary "is the real election" in many areas, so it may make sense to allow the top two to advance to give voters a "real choice" in the final. But Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox's office warned that would eliminate the possibility of straight party-ticket voting by pressing one button.

The committee examined on Wednesday numerous possible ways to allow run-offs, but many would not meet current federal or state timing requirements — especially if recounts occurred.

One that would work, called "ranked voting," would be expensive. Voters would rank in order their preference for candidates. If their top choice finished last initially, then their second choice would be counted. If the top two choices were eliminated, the third would be counted, and so on until someone wins a majority.

But Mark Thomas, chief of staff for the lieutenant governor, said that could cost $20 million to $30 million for new voting machines and software. He said the state must soon replace aging voting machines anyway, so it could be a possibility.

Davis County Clerk-Auditor Curtis Koch and Weber County Clerk-Auditor Ricky Hatch testified they prefer either letting winners of pluralities advance, or returning the decision to party delegates.

Rep. Dean Sanpei, R-Provo, noted that using a run-off could essentially force some candidates to wage five campaigns in a year — between gathering signatures to appear on the ballot, then bidding for a party convention, a primary, a run-off and a general election.

"I don't want the solution to be worse than the problem," he said.