A constitutional amendment hastily proposed by Republican lawmakers will appear on Utahns’ general election ballots, but any votes for or against Amendment D will not be counted, Judge Dianna Gibson ruled on Thursday.
The constitutional amendment would have guaranteed the Legislature the power to repeal or amend any voter-approved ballot initiative for any reason. But Gibson found that the ballot language drafted by legislative leaders, asking Utahns if they wanted to “strengthen the initiative process,” would lead reasonable voters to believe the amendment would have the opposite effect.
[READ: “Amendment D is void’: GOP lawmakers’ constitutional amendment won’t be counted in 2024 election]
Gibson also ruled that the Legislature failed to comply with a requirement in Article XXIII of the Utah Constitution that states that the Legislature must publish the text of any proposed constitutional amendment in newspapers around the state for two months prior to the election.
Below are excerpts from Gibson’s ruling:
“While the Legislature has every right to request the amendment, it has the duty and the obligation to accurately communicate the ‘subject matter’ of the proposed amendment to voters and to publish the text of the amendment in a newspaper in each county two months before the election. It has failed to do both.”
“The people of Utah are entitled to an accurate summary of any proposed constitutional amendment that impacts their fundamental rights and they are entitled to the constitutionally required notice by publication in a newspaper two months before the election. These requirements are fundamental to the integrity of our democracy.”
“The integrity of the voting process requires that ballot language fairly and accurately present the issue to be decided in order to assure a ‘free, intelligent and informed vote by the average citizen.’”
“In light of these considerations, the Amendment D ballot language does not fairly and accurately ‘summarize’ the issue to be decided to assure a free, intelligent and informed vote by the average citizen. The ‘summary’ both amplifies by using ‘strengthen’ and simultaneously omits the material and consequential constitutional change, that the Legislature will have the unlimited right to change law passed by citizen initiative. The omission entirely eliminates the voter’s fundamental constitutional right.”
“The short summary the Legislature chose does not disclose the chief feature, which is also the most critical constitutional change — that the Legislature will have the unlimited right to change laws passed by citizen initiative. Given this glaring omission, the ballot is ‘counterfactual.’”
“A voter has a right to know what they are being asked to vote upon. In many instances, the only real knowledge a voter may have on an issue is when the voter enters the polling location and reads the description of the proposed amendment on the ballot. This court cannot say that the Amendment D ballot language fairly and accurately summarizes the proposed constitutional amendments for the average voter. Therefore, there is a substantial likelihood that Amendment D violates Article XXIII, § 1 of the Utah Constitution.”
“Defendants are somewhat responsible for the impact on ballot printing for the November 2024 election. They truncated the deadlines, sidestepped normal processes, and proposed in short order a constitutional amendment, with inaccurate descriptions, to shift power from the people to the Legislature. Under the circumstances, the court cannot say that Defendants will be harmed by being unable to advance an inaccurate description of the proposed Amendment in the November 2024 election.”
Read the full ruling here:
091224 Ruling by Jeff Parrott on Scribd