A Republican candidate who fell three signatures short of qualifying for Utah's June primary is suing Salt Lake County election officials, arguing there’s a provision in state law that already puts her on the ballot—and could upend the entire signature-gathering system in the process.
Lisa Dean filed suit Monday claiming Utah's election code contains two separate pathways to qualify for a primary through signatures, and she's already cleared one of them.
It's the second time Dean has tried to force a primary against incumbent Rep. Ken Ivory in House District 39. In 2024, she petitioned her way onto the ballot and lost by just 590 votes. This year she came up three signatures short—and Ivory waltzed through the Salt Lake County GOP convention with 35 out of 45 delegate votes, locking up the nomination.
Here’s how Dean’s legal argument works. Utah law sets a flat signature requirement for candidates: 1,000 signatures for state House races. That's the number the Salt Lake County Clerk used when ruling Dean came up short. But a separate provision says a candidate also qualifies if their petition is signed by at least 2 percent of the party's registered voters in the district.
In House District 39, that's only 190 Republicans. Dean submitted 997 verified Republican signatures, far above the 2 percent threshold.
Dean's suit argues the law doesn't clearly establish that the flat number overrides the percentage rule. State code refers to both as "applicable" signature thresholds, she says. If a court agrees, she's on the ballot.
And she won't be alone.
If the court accepts Dean's argument, it could place several other candidates who missed the flat signature requirement onto primary ballots across the state. Using voter registration data from election data company L2, at least eight races include candidates who fell short of the flat threshold but cleared the 2 percent bar.
Who else would be affected:
Congressional District 1: Democrat Eva Lopez Chavez was 5,998 signatures short of the 7,000 required but cleared the 2 percent threshold. She would join Ben McAdams, Liban Mohamed, Nate Blouin and Michael Farrell in a five-way Democratic primary.
SD11: Republican Chris Sloan was eliminated by delegates at Saturday's state GOP convention despite submitting 1,394 signatures—enough to meet the 2 percent threshold. He would face GOP nominee Brooks Benson in a primary.
SD13: Democrat Richard Whitney was knocked out at the Salt Lake County convention, but his signature total would put him in a primary with three other Democratic candidates.
HD17: Republicans Sam Barlow and Lili Bitner already qualified through signatures. Under the 2 percent rule, Republican Adam Sorenson would join them on the primary ballot.
HD26: Democrat Michael Finch won his party's nomination at convention. Darrel Curtis fell short of 1,000 signatures but submitted enough to force a primary under the 2 percent rule.
HD28: Republican Nicholeen Peck won the GOP nomination at convention over Stephanie Bagwell. Bagwell would force a primary through signatures under the 2 percent threshold.
HD60: Republican Grant Pace is currently unopposed in November. McCay Jensen submitted enough signatures to force Pace into a primary under the 2 percent rule.
HD67: Republicans JR Bird and Yvonne Jensen are already set to face off in the June primary. Gina Gagon missed the 1,000-signature threshold but cleared the 2 percent bar and would join them on the ballot.
Dean says she’s challenging the existing ballot access system that lets a handful of party delegates override hundreds or thousands of signatures from actual voters—the same system that shut her out this year after she spent months knocking on doors.
“I think the caucus-convention system served people well when there was not access to information and you couldn’t just call or email the candidate or look at their website. But I don’t see the need for it now,” Dean says.
“I love the idea of more people being able to participate in choosing their candidate. I think this could potentially give a lot more voters in the state the opportunity to choose their candidate,” she added.
Dean is also separately challenging the rejection of specific signatures, arguing officials applied the review rules incorrectly and that she actually cleared 1,000 valid signatures on her own.
She submitted 1,307 signatures by the deadline. The clerk rejected 310, including 25 that lacked a date written directly beside the signature as required by statute. Dean argues the dating requirement exists simply to confirm signers were registered voters at the time they signed and says at least 18 of those 25 signers were clearly registered at the time. Another 11 signatures had dates written directly above or below them on the page, which she argues satisfies the "next to" requirement.
Dean also argues that at least three of the 91 signatures rejected for party affiliation actually belong to registered Republicans and should count. If three or more are restored, she clears 1,000 on her own and would force Ivory into a primary.
The June primary is eight weeks away. Third District Judge Laura Scott has scheduled a hearing for Tuesday afternoon.
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