By Kelli Lundgren
We admit it, Represent Me Utah! is a newbie at this legislative thing, even at political activism in general. Last year when we began our plight, we learned a lot about Utah’s political process during the redrawing of voter boundaries. We had the pleasure to meet and get to know several of our state’s leaders and other political activists, both those we agreed with and disagreed with. We gained respect for several of these individuals.
We also gained heartburn from the redistricting process and its unjustness in Utah and throughout the country. So with this burning in our hearts, we’re continuing our pursuit of democracy in Utah in 2012; Q, Jenny, Sue, Sarge, Kim and Kelli.
Our goal this year is to increase Utah’s voting percentage to 50% of all adult Utah citizens (not just registered voters) in November’s general election. This figure dipped down to around 34 to 36% in 2010. Utah comes close to the bottom of the pile in voter participation. I can speculate many reasons for this. Yet if more voters voted, we would have a better balance in Utah’s government, a.k.a. “Why Utah’s Republican supermajority government doesn’t want to see more voters voting.”
Yet Represent Me Utah! is driven and members are attempting our goal of increased citizen participation. That’s why we are opposing Rep. Kraig Powell’s HB 253 Voter Registration Amendment, which will remove registered voters off of voter rolls if they are inactive. Counties already separate “active” from “inactive,” and from “removable.” As of this writing, HB 253 unfortunately passed through House committee with partisan votes of 6 to 4; Republicans for, Democrats against. It’s on its way to the House floor.
Ironically, time and money are already being spent to qualify a voter inactive, so it takes no effort or money to simply keep them inactive until they choose to participate. 230,000 registered voters are listed as inactive, and according to HB 253, they will be removed from the list if the bill passes and passes legal muster. “A voter is responsible to vote,” I paraphrase Rep. James Dunnigan, “If they don’t vote, they should be removed from voter lists.”
A cycle perpetuates itself. Utah used to have extremely high voter participation. In the mid-1970’s, our state headed conservative in its leadership, and voters stopped voting. So for years, when Republicans redistricted to dilute “the other side’s” votes, when caucuses tightened their rules so only a fraction of “active” members of each political party chose candidates to run for office, the 50% of Utah’s independent voters and many of Utah’s moderate Republican voters began to get shut out of the process. Now we really think we are shut out. So now Republican legislators think it’s a good idea to remove 230,000 inactive voters. And the cycle continues.
Represent Me Utah! wants to break this cycle. Did you know that Utah’s registered independents/unaffiliated account for more Utah voters than Democrats and Republicans combined? We have the largest unaffiliated percentage in the country.
If the unaffiliated block of voters gets out to vote, along with ALL Republican voters, and ALL Democratic voters, our government would look much different. But we all have to vote. Republicans and Democrats, please participate in caucuses to bring good candidates into the primary and general elections. Independents and other political parties, try to bring candidates to the general election too. (To find out how to get involved in a caucus or affiliate with a party, go to www.RepresentMeUtah.org)
Represent Me Utah! is feeling a little Don Quixote-esque. But one thing for certain is we haven’t given up on our state. And we don’t want other citizens to give up either. We’re in this for democracy. We’re in it to get voters out to vote. I can’t think of a better cause because a strong democracy affects every other concern we may have; environment, education, economy, fiscal responsibility, and equal rights for all. Let's work on an equal say for all, then we can have a better say in these other issues.
www.RepresentMeUtah.org
Near-future topic for our blog: Utah’s States Rights Focus, and why, if Mitt Romney becomes president, states rights will become a moot point.
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