In 2014, when the Utah Democratic Party formally threw its support behind SB54, which created Utah’s unique “dual path” hybrid caucus and primary system, then-Utah House Minority leader Jen Seelig, D-Salt Lake City, argued that SB54 “opens up participation to a lot of people, not just a handful of insiders. It is true democracy.”
For those unfamiliar with SB54, it created a second path to becoming a party’s nominee beyond getting the nod from a party’s delegates at the state convention. The argument went that too few average Utahns were participating in our system of neighborhood caucuses, leading to a situation where delegates at convention failed to reflect the average voters of their party and thrust poor and unrepresentative candidates upon the electorate. SB54 allowed candidates to collect signatures and force a primary run-off even if they failed to gain support at convention.
Additionally, up to two candidates who didn’t collect signatures can also progress to a primary run-off out of convention if they are the top two in delegate votes when no one achieves a determined percentage (60% for Republicans, 55% for Democrats) of the vote at convention. This hybrid system allows for, as Jen Seelig asserted, “true democracy.”
With this in mind, let’s consider what just happened with Evan McMullin in the Democratic convention. Evan McMullin is not a Democrat. He didn’t collect signatures to get into a primary run-off. Delegates did not vote on his candidacy for the Democratic Party. Instead, by a 57% to 43% margin, the delegates at the convention chose to simply not run a candidate at all. And the delegates’ decision won’t be challenged or affirmed by average Democratic voters.
The entire point of SB54 is to assure that delegates at a party’s convention do not wield unreasonable power without having a check on their authority from average voters of their party. But Evan McMullin has removed a Democratic contender from his Senate race without ever facing affirmation from Democratic primary voters.
Justin Stapley
Justin Stapley is a student at Utah Valley University studying political theory and constitutionalism. He works part-time as a research assistant at UVU’s Center for Constitutional Studies.
