A Policy Brief on Initiated Statutes
The Utah Legislature recently convened a special session in response to a Utah Supreme Court ruling concerning initiated statutes. During this session, lawmakers introduced a proposal to place a question on the November 2024 ballot, seeking to amend the Utah Constitution to broaden the Legislature’s authority to modify initiated statutes. In light of this development, and at the request of legislative and community leaders, the Gary R. Herbert Institute for Public Policy and the UVU Center for Constitutional Studies have prepared this fact sheet to inform and assist the community.
Matthew Brogdon - Sr. Director, Center for Constitutional Studies, utah valley university
Justin Jones - Executive Director, Gary R. Herbert Institute for Public Policy, Utah Valley University
Michael Erickson - Research Assistant
The Gary R. Herbert Institute for Public Policy and the Center for National Security Studies (CNSS) at Utah Valley University (UVU) announced a partnership with Provo start-up SureMark Digital Identity Services (SureMark™ Digital) launching a pilot project that will work to combat deepfake AI in elections.
A go-to resource for upcoming elections, essential information, and learning more about the candidates.
Dr. Kal Munis and Mikelle Dahl authored a paper that reviews Utahns’ access to the ballot and the security and counting of their ballot once their vote is cast.
Kal Munis - Ph.D., Asst. Professor of political science, utah valley university
Mikelle Dahl - RESEARCH ASSISTANT
VOTER ACCESS AND BALLOT SECURITY
Dr. Alan Parry authored this paper analyzing the 2022 elections and those municipalities that used ranked choice voting methods.
Alan Parry - Ph.D., ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS, UTAH VALLEY UNIVERSITY
Dr. Alan Parry and Rachel Hutchinson analyzed the impact of ballots that become inactive due to a voter's choice not being selected as the winning candidate.
Rachel Hutchinson - SENIOR POLICY ANALYST, FAIRVOTE
Alan Parry - Ph.D., ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS, UTAH VALLEY UNIVERSITY
On January 29, 2024, the Herbert Institute gathered students, faculty, and the community hear from political and voting experts who presented three whitepapers on Utah’s election integrity published in January 2024: "Inactive Ballots in Single Choice vs. Instant Runoff Voting," "Election Results in Ranked Choice Voting and Voter Confidence," and "Voter Access and Ballot Security."
The presenters reviewed Utah’s election process, including voter access and ballot security, 2022 election results in ranked choice voting contests, and addressed the issue of inactive ballots.
Over the past 30 years, there has been a significant shift in political support from rural areas towards the Republican Party while urban areas, especially larger cities, have increasingly supported the Democratic Party, creating a rural-urban divide or geographic polarization. This divide has become a defining characteristic of contemporary American politics. The relationship between population density and political affiliation has become so strong that it is hard to imagine that there was virtually no urban-rural divide in the mid-1990s. Factors contributing to this divide include a shift in the focus of political discourse from economics to social issues, differences in demographic composition and social ecology between urban and rural areas, and perceived geographic inequity between them, leading to resentment.
Kal Munis - Ph.D., Asst. Professor of political science, utah valley university
Examining the historical origins of Utah Ranked Choice Voting advocacy and implementation - Considering the future of preferential voting in Utah Elections
Steven M. Sylvester - Ph.D., Research Director ·
Mike Erickson - Student Director, Research Assistant
The Herbert Institute welcomed local, state, and national presenters to Utah Valley University to discuss Utah's experience with the Municipal Alternate Voting Methods Pilot Project, which allowed municipalities to opt into Ranked Choice Voting until 2026 to study the effectiveness of the policy.
The views and opinions of the presenters are their own and do not reflect the views of the Gary R. Herbert Institute for Public Policy, which remains neutral on Ranked Choice Voting.
