Voters could be asked to do what lawmakers won't — approve a hate-crimes bill in Utah.

The repeated quashing of legislation on Capitol Hill that would enhance penalties for crimes based on bias or prejudice appears to be hardening the resolve of supporters to keep the debate going.

Edward Lewis Jr., president of the NAACP Utah-Nevada-Idaho Tri-State Conference, said efforts to take the issue to voters will likely be headed up by the NAACP Salt Lake Branch.

"The voters, the police departments, the law and justice systems have all been in favor of passing this bill," Lewis said. "You've got the attorney general in support of it, police officers in support of it. What part of this message do legislators not understand?"

Lewis said it's too early to tell what the ballot initiative would look like, adding the NAACP would likely discuss the topic at a March meeting. The next time a statewide initiative could be put on the general election ballot is in 2006.

Recent Deseret Morning News/KSL-TV public opinion polls by Dan Jones & Associates have shown public support for the legislation. In the most recent poll, 63 percent of the 406 people polled said they favored the bill. The poll's margin of error is 5 percent.

However, those legislators contacted by the Deseret Morning News who voted against it say most of their constituents are opposed to hate-crimes legislation.

Rep. Curt Oda, R-Clearfield, says his Davis County constituents are "overwhelmingly against hate-crimes legislation."

"I hope those polls aren't being used as gospel," Oda said. The issue is one that keeps Sandy resident Sonia James on edge since she decided to actively lobby legislators to pass a hate-crimes law.

She wakes up in the middle of the night to voices screaming from her answering machine. The anonymous callers curse James for being black, telling her they will burn her house down if she continues to push for enhanced hate-crime penalties.

James said the state government failed her when both House and Senate committees killed a hate-crimes bill last week, but that defeat and the anonymous threats will not stop her campaign for harsher penalties.

This session, a bill that would create a hate-crimes law died in two committees — first in the House, then the Senate. Similar legislation has died 10 times before.

"Every time we vote that bill down, the message we're sending out to these fanatics is that there's no consequence for these actions," James said. "It's scary when the people who are representing us are not protecting us."