Utahns for Ethical Government News Update: Our Appeal to the Utah Supreme Court

First, a big and heartfelt thanks to all those who responded to our request for financial help... And now it's on to the Utah Supreme Court

By: Utahns for Ethical Government

Dear Supporters,

First, a big and heartfelt thanks to all those who responded to our request for financial help. Thanks to you, we actually exceeded our $15,000 goal and can proceed to fully pay for our survey as well as pay our current and upcoming court filing fees and minimal operational costs, as we prepare our appeal to the Utah Supreme Court. Your response was heart warming and very much appreciated.

Second, you may have read an account in the newspaper of the final lower court ruling by Judge Todd Shaughnessy of Utah's Third District Court. We mentioned in our earlier communication that the Judge ruled a few weeks ago that UEG had one year in which to gather signatures ( :-), while at the same time ruling that e-signatures could not be used for our initiative (:-(. A surprising third ruling was issued after a subsequent hearing before the Judge on certain facts remaining in dispute. The ruling states that the count of eligible signatures must be based on the number of votes cast for President of the U.S. in 2008 rather than on the number of votes cast for Governor in that election. This is a significant difference because several thousand more people vote for President than for Governor. The judge's decision was based on a 2011 Utah law that stiffened the requirements long after our actual signature gathering effort had been completed. We believe that we collected enough signatures under the old requirement but not enough if we are bound by the new requirement.

We were surprised and dismayed to discover that all of us could work so hard to gather signatures believing that one standard existed, and then learn after we have completed our work that the standard was changing! We, of course, think that applying the 2011 law is fundamentally unfair, but it has a basis in law that we will be challenging on appeal as inapplicable in our case.

The Utah Supreme Court decision will be very interesting and important to all Utahns. We are finalizing our appeal at this moment, requesting an expedited decision because of the time pressure as the election approaches.

We will continue to keep you posted.

Yours in solidarity,

Kim Burningham, Chair
Utahns for Ethical Government

Dixie Huefner, Chair
UEG Communications Committee