The primary election is over. An estimated 345,000 voters participated in the U.S. Senate race – the highest profile race for this primary election. That may seem like a large turnout. However, there are approximately 1.6 million voters in Utah. That means only 22% of voters participated.
That percentage is not atypical for primary elections. Voters are not as attuned to primaries as they are to general elections. And in many states the primary is the run-up to the more important election in the fall when party candidates, as well as independents, run against one another. It is an election that actually decides who becomes the elected official.
But not in Utah. In Utah, for the vast majority of races, the Republican primary (or even the Republican convention in many cases) is the final election. In some cases, it is due to the lack of opposition in the general election (either because the opposition candidate is simply a name on the ballot or there is no opposition candidate at all).
Plus, Utah Republicans close their primary elections. As a majority of Utahns are not Republicans, that means most voters such as myself cannot vote in those contests. The consequence is that the most intense activists in the Republican Party determine not only who the GOP nominee will be, but also who will serve in the office.
Imagine a society of 100 people. But only 22 of those people decide how the society will be governed. And those 22 are not just the most interested; they’re also the most partisan and the most ideologically extreme. That is where Utah is now.
The solution proffered by some is that moderate voters should participate more in the Republican primary election. There was a major push by some groups to help Becky Edwards win the U.S. Senate Republican primary with the help of moderate Republicans, the unaffiliated and even some Democrats who should switch party registration to help her. They reasoned that with the help of moderate voters they could win. The effort failed, as it has repeatedly in the past.
There are several reasons for the failure. One is that voters still are more focused on the general election. It is the election that is supposed to matter in actually electing people to office. Another is that many voters don’t want to affiliate with the Republican Party. Those who do tend to be the hard-core conservatives who feel very much at home in the Republican Party today.
Yet another is the timing of the Utah primaries. The Republicans know that a mid-summer primary is going to attract the most devout Republicans and others will be dissuaded by other activities – summer travel and recreation.
Moreover, to voters the general election matters more. For example, four years ago 336,000 voters cast a ballot in the U.S. Senate GOP primary race. But in the general election, over one million voted in that race.
This does not just apply to high-profile races. In the House District 19 GOP primary race that year, for example, approximately 7,000 voters turned out to vote. However, in the general election (even though the outcome wasn’t close), nearly 17,000 voters participated.
Why is this a problem? This situation calls into question whether Utah can be accurately called a representative democracy. When most voters are excluded from the “real” election, they do not participate in the selection of their representatives. And when they do (and can) participate, it doesn’t really matter.
Utah’s election system is topsy-turvy. When voters cannot or will not participate, elections matter. When they do show up, they don’t. It is not surprising that voter turnout in Utah has dramatically fallen since the days when there was vigorous competition both statewide and at local levels and when primary elections were open, not closed.
Utah’s political leaders as well as voters need to solve this problem. And it is not by encouraging more participation in the closed primaries. Rather, it is by making the general election – where the voters are – more meaningful in determining who governs.
Richard Davis
Richard Davis, Orem, is former chair of the United Utah Party.
