Standard-Examiner Editorial: Allow Online Petition Signatures

It will be a shame if these citizens initiative petition efforts are defeated, by getting too few signatures

Fine editorial in this morning's Standard-Examiner, urging Lt. Governor Bell to reconsider his office's anti-democratic stance, against allowing electronic signatures for the Utah ethics reform and fair boundaries initiatives.

If however, it's necessary to overturn Bell's legally weak posture in court, Utahns for Ethical Government is fully prepared to do that. Remember, people, the Attorney General's opinion letter upon which Lt. Governor Bell relies does not have the force of law, and that such a letter is in fact by its own nature no more authoritative than any other opinion letter which might be issued by any other licensed Utah lawyer. UEG lawyers are prepared for litigation; and they'll soon be seeking declaratory relief in the courts, if necessary.

Citizens' initiative sponsors are still urging Utah voters to continue to go online to affix their electronic signatures to the petitions, pending a judicial resolution of this matter. In the event that these online petitions are ultimately ruled invalid (a low-probability outcome, in our opinion,) petition sponsors will still have your full contact information available, so they will be able to easily contact you to obtain a hard-copy signature.

As of April 2, UEG spokesman issued a press release stating that UEG anticipated reaching somewhere between 60 and 80 percent of its mandated 95,000 signatures of registered Utah voters by April 4, 2010. So with two days remaining, we'll put on one extra pre-deadline (April 15) push and strongly urge those of you who haven't yet signed the petition to do so now, without any further delay.

Once again, here are the links to the UEG and Fair Boundaries online petitions:

• Fair Boundaries
• Utahns for Ethical Government

You can also click on the graphic above, which will take you directly to the UEG's online petition data entry page.

As the Standard-Examiner editorial board emphasizes:

This is a unique opportunity for Utah residents to send a clear message to lawmakers that we are fed up with long-delayed ethics reforms and are taking matters into our own hands. It will be a shame if that effort is defeated, either by getting too few signatures, or having names gathered electronically struck down by the lieutenant governor.

Need we say more?