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.
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