After a wave of signature-removal requests sank the Prop. 4 repeal drive Thursday, Utah Republicans have been crashing out, insisting voters’ will was thwarted. The numbers say otherwise.
Prop. 4 is the 2018 voter-approved anti-gerrymandering initiative that created an independent redistricting commission.
⏰ Tick Tock
14 days - Deadline for Republican and Democratic candidates for Congress to submit signatures to qualify for the primary ballot (4/10/2026)
15 days - Utah Forward Party nominating convention (4/11/2026)
29 days - Utah State Republican and Democratic State Party nominating conventions (4/25/2026)
88 days - Utah's 2026 primary election (6/23/2026)
221 days - 2026 midterm elections (11/3/2026)
956 days - 2028 presidential election (11/7/2028)
Utahns for Representative Government (UFRG), the GOP-led group behind the signature drive to put the repeal on the ballot, says it submitted about 225,000 signatures. Just under 172,000 of those were verified as legitimate.
- Verified signatures were less than 10% of active voters statewide—only about 2 points above the 8% requirement.
- The 172,000 total (before removals) is just over one-third of the 505,274 voters who opposed Prop. 4 in 2018.
- It’s roughly one-third of Donald Trump’s 2016 Utah vote, and less than 20% of his 2020 and 2024 totals
Organizers of the 2025 referendum to repeal the union-busting bill, HB267, collected more than 300,000 signatures in less than half the time UFRG was circulating petitions.
For scale, 225,000 is only about 6.5% of Utah’s 3.5 million residents. The verified signature count is under 4.5%.
Most signers were Republicans. According to voter registration numbers provided by data firm L2:
- 69% were registered Republicans
- 18.5% were unaffiliated
- 7.3% were Democrats.
GOP signers equal about 15% of active registered Republicans statewide.
If that’s a mandate, it’s a very small one.
