From Deseret News archives:
Changes are sought in initiative rules
To help ensure that people signing the petitions are registered voters in the county where the petition is being circulated, the petitions may now ask the signer to list their birthdate, along with the currently required name, address, and signature. The change was tentatively approved by the Legislature's Interim Government Operations Committee, which requested a bill to be drafted for a vote at their November meeting.
The proposed bill was discussed Wednesday, shortly after a news conference in which Republican leaders indicated they planned on making changes to the initiative requirements. No details were available on that proposal.
But it appears lawmakers are irritated by ballot initiatives, one of which is on the Nov. 2 ballot.
The change discussed in committee would address problems encountered by state election officials when they initially denied the intitiative petition from the Utahns for Clean Water, Clean Air, and Quality Growth earlier this year because not enough signatures qualified for Senate districts within Utah and Cache counties. In both counties, clerks had eliminated names which did not match addresses.
After an appeal to the Utah Supreme Court from the initiative sponsor, the court ruled that the counties should not have eliminated those names, and ordered them to recheck the signatures. Enough names were restored to the petitions to allow it to be placed on the ballot.
By having signers include their birthdate, clerks could verify if a person is registered at a different address, state elections director Amy Naccarato said. The only concern was whether people would be hesitant to put personal information on a petition.
Rep. Eric Hutchings, R-Kearns, suggested that the birthdate be optional, with the understanding that it may be required to verify their voting registration.
"If they don't want to provide their birthdate and their address doesn't match their name, then they would just be eliminated because of a lack of information," he said.
E-mail: jloftin@desnews.com
