The moon rises over Castleton Tower near Moab, Utah, in 2024. On Sunday, the Utah GOP announced it had enough signatures to force a ballot measure on redistricting laws. File Photo by Bob Strong/UPI | License Photo
The Utah Republican Party announced it has the 200,000 signatures needed for a ballot measure to repeal Proposition 4, which was meant to curb gerrymandering in the state.
The Utah GOP has been trying to redistrict the state to prevent Democrats from winning any seats in the state in the House of Representatives. But a judge refused a potential map because voters had chosen Proposition 4 in 2018.
Proposition 4 created an independent redistricting commission in the state and was narrowly passed.
“We are well over 200,000 signatures that have been submitted,” Robert Axson, who is organizing the ballot measure campaign to get rid of Proposition 4, said in a video posted on X by Utah Republican National Committee member Brad Bonham. “We have met the threshold.”
“We are deeply grateful to the more than 200,000 Utahns who added their names,” Axson said. “Their participation reflects faith in self-government and in the right of citizens to decide important questions at the ballot box. To the thousands of volunteers throughout this process, thank you.”
The group, Utahns for Representative Government, is aiming to repeal Proposition 4. If the signatures are verified, the measure will be on the ballot in the fall. It will not make a difference in the redistricting this year. Officials now have until March 7 to verify the signatures.
President Donald Trump endorsed the effort on Truth Social in January.
“The Great State of Utah, a place I love and WON BIG in 2016, 2020, and 2024, sent four terrific Republicans to Congress, and we want to keep it that way! A very important effort is underway in Utah to repeal Proposition 4, make Map Drawing accountable to Utah Voters, stop Radical Leftist Judges, and KEEP UTAH RED. But this can only happen if enough Citizens of Utah sign the Petition to put the Prop 4 Repeal on the Ballot for the November 3, 2026 Election. Utahns deserve Maps drawn by those they elect, not Rogue Judges or Leftwing Activists who never faced the Voters, and, therefore, I encourage all Patriotic Utahns, Republicans, and MAGA Supporters who love their Great State and Country to sign this initiative, ASAP.”
Plaintiffs from the League of Women Voters of Utah, Mormon Women for Ethical Government, the Campaign Legal Center and some Salt Lake County voters filed a lawsuit alleging that the Republican-drawn map was illegal because of Proposition 4.
Third District Judge Dianna Gibson reviewed potential maps submitted by the plaintiffs and the legislature. She chose the plaintiffs’ map just minutes before a deadline. She chose the plaintiffs’ map because the Republican one “fails in many ways to comply with Proposition 4,” she wrote in her decision.
“In sum, the record overwhelmingly supports the Court’s conclusion that Map C exhibits substantial pro-Republican bias,” she said.
Republicans responded by saying they will appeal the decision and try to impeach Gibson.
This week in Washington
President Donald Trump speaks alongside Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency Lee Zeldin in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on Thursday. The Trump administration has announced the finalization of rules that revoke the EPA’s ability to regulate climate pollution by ending the endangerment finding that determined six greenhouse gases could be categorized as dangerous to human health. Photo by Will Oliver/UPI | License Photo
