In 2018, Utah voters made a clear choice: they passed Proposition 4, a citizen-led initiative to establish an independent redistricting commission designed to draw fair and impartial political maps and submit them to the Utah Legislature. It was a hard-fought, grassroots victory — narrow, yes, but deeply democratic. Voters wanted to curb gerrymandering and remove partisan politics from the redistricting process.
Now, a new effort threatens to erase that progress — not by another public vote, but through a backdoor maneuver known as the indirect initiative process. This initiative, led by the Utah Republican Party, seeks to repeal the very standards Proposition 4 created. If they gather signatures from just 4% of active voters, the repeal proposal would go straight to the state Legislature — dominated by the very party that benefits from gerrymandered maps — for approval. If the Legislature votes yes, Proposition 4 could be undone without ever going back to the voters who passed it.
That should alarm anyone who believes in democratic principles, regardless of party. At its core, this repeal effort is a power grab dressed in procedural clothing. It weaponizes a little-known legal pathway to undermine the will of the people and return redistricting power exclusively to a partisan body with every incentive to draw maps that entrench its control. This isn’t just about lines on a map. It’s about whether voters choose their politicians — or politicians choose their voters.
Redistricting has long been a quiet but potent force in shaping political power. In Utah, as in many states, lawmakers have historically drawn district maps in ways that protect incumbents and silence dissenting voices. Proposition 4 was an attempt to fix that — to establish an independent body that would apply clear, transparent standards and listen to public input.
It didn’t strip ultimate power from the Legislature, but it created guardrails that made blatant gerrymandering harder to justify. The current repeal initiative aims to eliminate those guardrails. And worse, it does so without giving voters a direct say. This, in spite of language in the Utah Constitution and a Utah Supreme Court ruling upholding the people’s co-equal power to legislate and alter or reform their government by initiative.
That’s why groups like the League of Women Voters of Utah and Mormon Women for Ethical Government have taken the issue to court. They argue that this indirect initiative undermines the state constitution and the people’s right to legislate by ballot. Their case, currently before 3rd District Court Judge Dianna Gibson, raises an essential question: Can lawmakers override the will of the people simply because they abhor the very notion of an initiative process that constrains their freedom of action?
If the courts allow this repeal to go forward, the implications reach far beyond redistricting. It sets a dangerous precedent: any voter-passed reform — no matter how popular — could be reversed by politicians acting in their own interest. The initiative process, once a vital check on legislative overreach, would be hollowed out.
This isn’t just a theoretical problem. Nationally, we’ve seen elected officials in multiple states work to dismantle independent redistricting commissions, voting rights protections and ethics reforms — all passed by voters. Utah is at risk of becoming the latest example of this disturbing trend.
To be clear, redistricting is not supposed to be a partisan issue. Fair maps benefit everyone, regardless of political affiliation. They ensure that communities are represented, that elections can be competitive and that public officials are accountable to their constituents. When maps are rigged, democracy breaks down. Voters lose trust, turnout drops and polarization deepens. That’s why Proposition 4 matters. And that’s why the current repeal effort must be seen for what it is: a direct threat to democratic accountability.
The people of Utah spoke in 2018. They deserve to be heard again — not silenced by legislative fiat. If there is a debate to be had about redistricting standards, let it happen in public. Let it be honest. And most importantly, let it end with a vote of the people. Anything less is not democracy. It’s manipulation.