The group driving a ballot initiative to repeal Utah’s law banning gerrymandering reached its statewide signature goal Thursday and, more importantly, took a big step toward reaching the required voter support in 26 state Senate districts.
Based on the latest tally from the lieutenant governor’s office posted Thursday morning, Utahns for Representative Government now has 149,781 valid signatures. It also reached the district-specific marks in six more state senate districts, bringing the total to 20 of the 26 needed to make it on the ballot.
Notably, the group made significant inroads in two Layton-area districts that are must-haves to qualify for the ballot. In Senate District 7, UFRG needs 260 more signatures, down from 555 yesterday. And in Senate District 8, the group now needs 316, down from 908. That puts UFRG 95% and 94% of the way to the goal in the two districts, respectively.
Even if UFRG makes those goals, opposition groups will have 45 days to try to convince voters to withdraw their signatures and potentially push the tally under the required threshold.
Better Boundaries has sent pre-filled forms to Utahns who signed the petition so that voters who want to remove their support for the repeal effort can sign and mail in a pre-stamped envelope to their county clerks.
So far, about 3,700 people have removed their signatures.
On Monday, UFRG filed a lawsuit alleging that providing voters the stamp to return the envelope constitutes an illegal bribe, meant to induce voters to withdraw support. UFRG wants clerks to discard the forms or, at a minimum, set them aside until the court decides whether the forms are legal.
Better Boundaries denies any wrongdoing.
The larger fight centers on how Utah’s political boundaries are drawn. In 2018, voters approved Proposition 4 — also known as the Better Boundaries initiative — which established an independent redistricting commission, created neutral criteria for drawing political maps and banned partisan gerrymandering.
The Legislature tried to gut Proposition 4, but the Utah Supreme Court ruled that undoing a voter initiative essentially nullifies the citizens’ constitutional right to make law through ballot measures.
UFRG is aiming to use the initiative process to wipe out Proposition 4. If successful, it would not impact the congressional maps in 2026, but could let the Legislature redraw the 2028 boundaries as it sees fit.