Whether Utah’s Prop 4 repeal makes the November ballot now hinges on razor-thin signature surpluses in a handful of state Senate districts.
The Republican-led effort would put a repeal of Prop. 4, the anti-gerrymandering law approved by voters in 2018, on November’s ballot. Repeal backers have hit the required number of signatures in 26 of Utah’s 29 state Senate districts—the bare minimum to qualify for the ballot.
But that foothold is shaky as opponents press voters to pull their names from the petitions. If any of those 26 districts fall under the threshold, the repeal doesn’t qualify.
Most vulnerable districts
Five districts in Salt Lake and Davis counties are sitting on paper-thin cushions—each with fewer than 700 surplus signatures.
SD15, represented by Democrat Kathleen Riebe, is the most endangered, sitting only 232 signatures above the line. It’s also the target of a focused signature removal blitz, with 114 names taken off petitions on Wednesday alone. At that pace, SD15 will fall below the threshold by week’s end.
Other districts flirting with falling below the threshold:
- SD12 (Democrat Karen Kwan, D): 348 surplus signatures.
- SD10 (Democrat Luz Escamilla): 596 surplus signatures.
- SD17 (Republican Lincoln Fillmore): 610 surplus signatures.
- SD8 (Republican Todd Weiler): 660 surplus signatures.
SD17 also took a major hit on Wednesday, shedding 36 signatures.
The removal clock
Under Utah law, petition signers have 45 days from when election officials post their names online to request removal. It’s a rolling window, and in every close district, there are more than enough signatures still within that window to flip the result.
In SD15 alone, nearly 3,500 signatures were posted after Feb. 2, which is about 15 times the current 232-signature cushion.
- SD12: 60.8% of signatures are within the window (4.8x the surplus)
- SD10: 61.1% within the window (3.7x the surplus)
- SD17: 77% within the window (7.5x the surplus)
- SD8: 77.3% within the window (6.5x the surplus)
