2 Jordan District split items on ballot?

"The law doesn't give clear direction on many of the issues, and we're working that out with the mayor and the county council," said Dahnelle Burton-Lee, Salt Lake County's chief deputy district attorney.

Christensen says the board is trying to solve its question of whether not letting everyone affected by a district split have a vote is unconstitutional. An attorney for the board has said letting only the part of the district that would break away have a say in the matter appears to violate "one man, one vote" guarantees of the 14th Amendment. Mayors of west-side cities Riverton, Herriman, West Jordan, South Jordan and Bluffdale brought the same concern to the board earlier this spring.

"(The proposal) addresses, without legal action, the concern of the board that not everyone is voting on a critical question that impacts everyone, and does it without litigation," Christensen said.

County Council Chairman Mark Crockett can understand the district's concern, but wonders about its tactic.

"Were they really looking for us to use one process to circumvent the other process? That would be the risk here. There is a group here that is trying to create a new district, and they have a pass-forward where they get a vote on it. This is just a ploy in messing them up," said Crockett, who represents the east side.

But the question could be moot anyway.

Legal requirements surrounding a school district request are detailed, including setting up an ad hoc committee to conduct what's basically a feasibility study, plus a 45-day comment period. All that's supposed to be done by Sept. 1 at the latest, in order to prepare for the November election, Salt Lake County Clerk Sherrie Swensen said.

Cullimore doesn't think it can be done. Granite assistant to the superintendent Martin Bates, an attorney who closely followed the law's creation, has his doubts, too.

At any rate, someone needs to settle the ultimate question of who gets a say on election day, Swensen said.

"They need to make sure that they get a legal opinion as to whether it's the whole district that votes or just the district that is newly created," she said. "Otherwise it would be futile to have a portion of the people that are eligible to vote and find out it goes to court after and doesn't hold up. I would hope they would get that dispute figured out in advance."

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