Author: PROP4_Admin

David Irvine During my years of service in the Utah Legislature, I witnessed the level of dedication and concern my colleagues had for the future of Utah. Nearly every decision we made carried the goal of improving the lives for everyone in our state. Regardless of political party, I witnessed the common thread of serving…

Ryan Bell Two opposing facts create a contradictory picture of the Utah electorate. Fact number one: Our state’s citizens rank as among the most, if not the most, civically engaged people in the nation, according to a recent WalletHub study. Fact number two: Utah’s citizens vote at a shockingly low rate, ranking us 39th among…

There are innumerable examples of how the Utah Legislature goes out of its way to be non-responsive to the will, wishes and needs of the people of Utah. Groups of our neighbors have become so frustrated with the unwillingness and inability of elected lawmakers to do the people’s work that they have been moved to…

Participants of the Gerry-Meander 5K Fun Run and Walk start to run at Rowland Hall Middle School in Salt Lake City on Saturday. About 150 people participated in the race hosted by the League of Women Voters of Salt Lake, which raised awareness about gerrymandering: manipulation of electoral boundaries for political reasons. The 5 kilometer…

Proposition 4 would create an independent redistricting commission that would make recommendations to the legislature and not have binding authority. Catherine Kanter with Better Boundaries, the organization behind the initiative, joined ABC4 Utah’s CW30 to talk about the role it will play. The independent redistricting commission would be made up of seven people. The chair…

By Jay Evensen SALT LAKE CITY — Two hundred and six years ago, guests at a political dinner party in Boston let their creative juices flow as they talked of how upset they were at a new state senate district map that was drawn by the Democratic-Republican majority and signed into law by Massachusetts Gov.…

Deseret News editorial board Utah’s electoral boundaries have been the subject of Wall Street Journal coverage and a federal court case, revealing the extent to which the Legislature has sliced the state into uneven districting. Unnaturally carving up communities is harmful to democratic processes and is too often an abuse of political power, which is…

By A. Scott Anderson For the Deseret News I have always been proud that Utah leads our nation in many ways. In November, Utah voters will have a chance to lead again — by voting for Proposition 4, or the Better Boundaries initiative, which will create a fair system for drawing electoral boundaries in our…

Proposition 4 is a citizen ballot initiative designed to strengthen our representative democracy by curtailing the practice of gerrymandering. Proposition 4 will bring impartiality and transparency to the creation of electoral maps. For too long, politicians in this country and in Utah have been allowed to draw their own legislative districts, essentially choosing their own…