Utah citizen initiatives at stake as judge weighs keeping major changes off ballots

A Utah judge promises to rule Thursday on striking from the November ballot a state constitutional amendment that would empower the state Legislature to override citizen initiatives.

The League of Women Voters of Utah and others have sued over the ballot measure endorsed by lawmakers in August, arguing in part that the ballot language describing the proposal is confusing.

The groups now seek to get the measure off ballots before they are printed. With the election less than eight weeks away, they are up against a tight deadline without putting Utah’s county clerks in the costly position of reprinting ballots.

Salt Lake County District Judge Dianna Gibson told attorneys in a hearing Wednesday she would give them an informal ruling by email that night, then issue a formal ruling for the public Thursday morning.

Any voter could misread the ballot measure to mean it would strengthen the citizen initiative process, League of Women Voters attorney Mark Gaber argued in the hearing.

“That is just indisputably not what the text of this amendment does,” Gaber said.

The amendment would do the exact opposite by empowering the Legislature to repeal voter initiatives, Gaber said.

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