Independent Party gubernatorial candidate Merrill Cook thinks he may be governor-elect today if only Utah had a runoff election law. And he and supporters may try to get such a law by the next gubernatorial race in 1996.
Party leaders, including Cook - who finished second in this month's gubernatorial race, will attempt to gather enough signatures over the next two years to place on the 1994 ballot a measure requiring a runoff election if a statewide candidate doesn't get more than 50 percent of the vote.Greg Beesley, executive director of the party - which was founded by Cook following the 1988 elections, said Wednesday that many independents believe that if Utah had a runoff law like Georgia, Cook would be governor.
Tuesday, Georgia held a special, runoff election for the U.S. Senate because neither the Republican nor the Democrat got 50 percent of the vote in the Nov. 3 general election. Incumbent Sen. Wyche Fow-ler, D-Ga., came in first in the Nov. 3 election, but because of a third-party candidate he got only 49 percent of the vote. Georgia law says if no candidate gets more than 50 percent of the vote there must be a run-off. And in Tuesday's run-off election, Republican Paul Coverdell defeated Fowler, 51-49 percent.
Beesley says his party will attempt to get the 65,000-plus signatures required to place such a measure on the November 1994 general election ballot for approval by voters.
Cook, Beesley and the Independents already are circulating an initiative petition aimed at the 1994 ballot that would limit the terms of state officeholders like governor and Utah legislators. The petition also would limit the terms of federal officials - U.S. House and Senate members from Utah.
That may run afoul of the U.S. Constitution, and passing a law requiring a runoff election if one candidate doesn't get 50 percent of the vote may run afoul of the Utah Constitution, legislative lawyers said Wednesday.
The Utah Constitution says the candidate who gets the most votes wins. It also says that state officers - like governor - shall be elected in the same election as Utah legislators.
Thus, a gubernatorial candidate who gets less than 50 percent of the vote but receives the most votes may well sue after the November election seeking to stop a runoff election saying the Utah Constitution says he won the office outright.
And how would a gubernatorial runoff affect legislators, who under the Utah Constitution must be included in elections involving statewide officials? Would their general election results be nullified, forcing them to run a second time as part of the runoff?
The Utah Constitution can't be changed through initiative petition - only by a two-thirds vote of the Legislature with citizen approval in a general election. So if it is unconstitutional to have runoff elections, changing the constitution is an avenue closed to Beesley, Cook and anybody else without legislative help.
GOP Gov.-elect Mike Leavitt got 42 percent of the vote Nov. 3. Cook finished second with 34 percent and Democrat Stewart Hanson finished third with 23 percent. Other candidates picked up only several thousand votes combined.
Beesley believes that if there were a runoff provision currently in Utah, in a Cook-Leavitt runoff, Cook would have gotten most of Hanson's staunch Democratic votes and "he would be governor-elect today."
In 1988, because of Cook getting 21 percent of the vote, GOP Gov. Norm Bangerter was re-elected with just 40 percent of the vote. And now, four years later, we have another minority governor, Bees-ley said.
"In 1988, 60 percent of Utah voters wanted a change (from Bangerter)," Beesley said. In 1992, 58 percent didn't want Leavitt to be governor, yet he will be, he said. "A runoff law also will enable the Independent Party to attract good candidates and retain Merrill Cook (as a member). Clearly, Merrill Cook will win in 1996 as an Independent if Utah has a runoff law by then," Beesely said. Cook, in his concession speech election night, all but announced he'll run for governor again in four years.
Beesley admits there may be a lower voter-turnout in a runoff election than in the general election. (In Georgia, the runoff U.S. Senate election drew just two-thirds of the voters who cast ballots Nov. 3). "But that can't be our concern," said Beesley. "We can't control turnout."