Estimated read time: 5-6 minutes
- Former Utah GOP Sen. Curt Bramble discussed potential reforms to the state's dual-path nominating process, SB54.
- Critics argue the law has created a costly "cottage industry" for signature gathering, while supporters say it broadens voter participation.
- Proposed reforms include lowering signature thresholds and allowing party members to sign petitions for multiple candidates.
SALT LAKE CITY — It's been more than a decade since state lawmakers created a dual path for candidates to qualify for the ballot in a primary election, but the issue continues to be top of mind for some politicians and policymakers in Utah.
Republican Sen. Mike Lee, for example, has routinely criticized SB54 — the 2014 law that allows candidates to earn a spot on the ballot either by winning at the party convention or by collecting signatures from party members in their district — saying the parties should decide how candidates are nominated.
"Political parties — and never the government — should decide how they will select their candidates," he posted on X earlier this year. "Utah should repeal SB54."
Supporters of the bill argue it allows a broader section of voters to weigh in on who should have access to the ballot, as opposed to the several thousand GOP delegates who are picked to attend the state nominating convention. But some involved with the 2014 law acknowledge the dual path to the ballot has created a "cottage industry" for candidates to hire companies to help them meet the signature threshold.
With several election reform proposals likely to take center stage during Utah's upcoming legislative session, several SB54 stakeholders discussed the impacts of the law and offered suggestions to improve it at a panel on elections hosted by the Sutherland Institute Wednesday morning.
Curt Bramble, a former GOP state senator who was the chief sponsor of SB54, said the law was meant to give candidates with a broad degree of support from Republican voters a chance to qualify for the ballot even if they didn't win at the party's annual convention.
"Instead, the signature path and the very high thresholds have created a cottage industry for ... paying for signatures," he told the panel. "It has done more to divide the party and to drive this wedge. We no longer talk in Republican circles about the things that make Republicans Republicans — less government, lower taxes, protecting unborn children, less regulation. ... We talk about who is winning control, whether a person can be on a ballot or not."
He called the current system "unsustainable" because many of the candidates who won at the convention have underperformed with the broader primary electorate, suggesting the delegate's preferred candidates do not line up with the preferences of most GOP voters.
"You see that again in the 2024 election, where every major race ... candidates were eliminated in convention and yet went on to win, handily, in the Republican primary," he said. "That is not a system that can sustain itself in the long run."
"The candidates that they're putting forward are not being chosen by the broader Republican base," he told KSL.com later on Wednesday. "So, draw your own conclusion about whether that's effective leadership of the party or not, and if the only way those party leaders could get their candidates elected is by limiting, controlling and coercing, that goes back to, is there a problem with the current system?"
Political parties—and never the government—should decide how they will select their candidates
— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) January 3, 2025
Utah should repeal SB54 https://t.co/qeOOxfPHnT
Bramble said he believes there is still merit to the caucus system, but suggested that lawmakers revisit the signature thresholds established in law. Stan Lockhart — a former head of the state Republican Party — agreed, saying the thresholds should be lowered to make it easier for candidates to collect signatures themselves, instead of relying on expensive signature-gathering firms.
Rep. Ray Ward, R-Bountiful, has proposed a bill to do just that. If passed, it would lower the threshold for gubernatorial, U.S. Senate and state attorney general candidates from 28,000 to 1,000 and from 7,000 to 500 for U.S. representatives. State Senate candidates would only need 200 signatures, and House candidates would need 100.
Taylor Morgan, the leader of the Count My Vote initiative that prompted the SB54 compromise and a host of KSL NewsRadio's "Inside Sources," said signature thresholds are an important "viability test" for candidates but added, "We are pricing out good candidates that just can't afford it."
He also suggested that the state allow party members to sign ballot access petitions for multiple candidates in the same race, which he said could reduce the rush for candidates to meet the threshold first, given the limited number of potential signees available. Voters would still only be allowed to vote for one candidate but could opt to help multiple qualify for the ballot.
Morgan said more options for nomination are good for the state and the GOP should "stop playing games with the signature path." Many delegates have long resented the option and tend to support candidates who eschew collecting signatures.
It has done more to divide the party and to drive this wedge. We no longer talk in Republican circles about the things that make Republicans Republicans.
–Former Sen. Curt Bramble
"If they would start focusing on improving, they would have higher participation (at caucuses and conventions)," Morgan said. "But it is dying because the party is not improving their own process in a zero-sum battle against signatures."
Lockhart said less than 10% of registered Republicans attended the caucus night in March — thanks, in part, to a series of technical glitches and lengthy lines at several locations — and that he believes the majority of Utah Republicans prefer voting in the primary.
"That dichotomy means this: as the Legislature passes more restrictive laws on participating in the political process ... there will be citizen initiatives that rise up to get rid of it, and the end of it may be ... where a citizen initiative rises up and just gets rid of (the caucus system) altogether," he said.
Whether any reforms to the nominating process will be discussed during the legislative session that starts on Tuesday remains to be seen.
Though he will no longer play a role in the process, Bramble said he expects to see several proposals for reforming the system, but he's skeptical lawmakers would eliminate the signature-gathering option.
"I think the House will make several proposals that will be debated," he said. "I think the Senate will take those under advisement and be the deliberative body, as it has always been, and I think we'll have some reforms. I'd be very skeptical of Senate Bill 54 being repealed."
