As citizens across the state trek to the polls Tuesday, political activists from very different walks of life worry out loud that Utahns aren't participating in democracy as they should.
You can still vote and prove the critics wrong. The polls in Utah's 230 cities and towns are open until 8 p.m. Several counties and special districts are also holding elections. All Salt Lake County residents get to vote on a $50 million recreation bond, for example.Leaders of several small political parties met at the State Capitol Tuesday afternoon to call for a basic, and drastic, change to the way we elect our leaders.
Jim Dexter, state Libertarian Party chairman, says it's time for Utah to change its constitution to allow proportional voting.
Under that system, seats in the Utah Legislature would be won by how many votes a party got across the state. In 1996, Libertarians got about 4 percent of the vote, said Dexter, and that could have been enough to give them one seat in the 75-member House.
This wouldn't be a switch to a true parliamentary form of government, just a different way to elect legislators, he said. "Now, if one party ended up with 51 percent of the vote in 100 districts, they get 100 seats. The other 49 percent of the voters are completely left out. As children say, it is `naner, naner, we get them all.'
"But under proportional voting, the Legislature would be split 51 to 49," he says.
Compromises would naturally have to be made, and the political philosophy of the minority would have to be included in any new laws, taxation, whatever, he says.
"It would greatly increase voter participation. Because you wouldn't be ignoring the minority voters - they would get a say," says Dexter, who was joined in his press conference by members of the Green Party, the Independent American Party and others.
Dexter said he'll ask Legislative leaders to draft and introduce such a constitutional change so "at least it can be debated" in the 1998 Legislature.
Meanwhile, Salt Lake County Democratic Party Chairman Joe Hatch is also worried about low-voter turnout.
"The turnout in the Salt Lake City primary election (a month ago) was 10 percent. That is terrible," he said.
Hatch, however, has another possible solution: partisan races in big cities where party affiliation already is an important factor in voters' minds.
"Each city should be able to decide, itself, whether to have partisan municipal elections or not," says Hatch, who admits that his party organization has been active in Salt Lake City races this year. Officially, Salt Lake City has non-partisan elections. That is, on the ballot no political party is listed by candidates' names.
In some city races, like the Murray mayoral contest, partisan politics is not playing a role, Hatch says. "And for Murray this year, that is appropriate. The candidates - while apparently members of two different parties - are fighting it out on issues like an-nex-a-tions."
But, says Hatch, the No. 1 question asked Salt Lake City Council candidates as they walk their districts is what party they belong to.
"Perhaps it's because Salt Lake City is one place where you can be (openly) a Democrat, be proud of it and win a race. I don't know. But what party you belong to is important there."
If a hot, partisan race gets more voters to the polls, then the change should be made to partisan elections, says Hatch. "Certainly, the Salt Lake City mayor's races are partisan, and many council races become that as well."