Citizens Initiative Party seeks Direct Primary Elections for Utah

      The Citizens Initiative Party has layers of meaning.  Initially, it evolved out of brainstorming for a way to  reform  the Utah caucus system to a direct primary--a ballot in the hands of the voters to choose the candidates to be listed on the general election ballot.  The Caucus system unique to Utah presently chooses the delegates to the party conventions.  Any candidate that gets 60% of the delegates' votes in convention is the party's candidate in the general election. Often the election is over at the party convention as whoever is the party candidate is as good as elected, whether the Democrat in Salt Lake City or the Republican in the rest of the state.

       The caucus, a neighborhood meeting, is so small it is easily manipulated, typically more extreme than the general population, and favors incumbents.  Although recently popular incumbents Governor Olene Walker and Senator Bob Bennett have been dumped by the people elected at the mass meetings to be  delegates to the party convention.  Additionally, it is not often pointed out that only some of the delegates to the convention are chosen at the caucus.  Other delegates are incumbents, party officers, former office holders chosen by the party leaders.  For the brief period between election as a delegate at the neighborhood caucus and voting at the convention, delegates are wined and dined and lobbied by the candidates!  And having been once a delegate, the person is encouraged by their incumbent new best friends to run again when the next election cycle begins.  

        We cannot expect the incumbent Utah legislature to take this reform up themselves without some form of real pressure from the public.  Their re-election is served by the existing system.  In fact, the legislature after the public uprising on the school voucher issue  made the alternate route of a citizen's petition more difficult. There is a short time frame after filing a petition to gather approximately 100,000 signatures from at least 26 of the 29 counties, and electronic signatures are not accepted.

         Alternatively, it only takes 2000 signatures of registered voters by February 15, 2012, to register a  new political party.  The party will become an educational and organizational force to gather a list of 100,000 pledges to sign the initiative. When we have enough people committed, the initiative will  be filed and everyone emailed a downloadable form to sign and mail to the party to submit.  Having an entity gathering pledges will take a lot of the cost and uncertainty out of the process.

          The party's name also emphasizes the need for citizens to take more initiative in getting our government at every level back on track.  It is not enough to just vote.  We need to engage in choosing the candidates.  We need solutions to our problems.  Hence, the party will encourage people to participate where they see a need.

           The party will not sell or share its list, but may invite people on the list to consider other issues.  But for now direct primaries for Utah is our issue.  A better democracy, with more choice for the voters is the goal.