Utah lawmakers will need to come up with $1.5 million to add to this year’s state budget to pay for a presidential primary election on March 5 this year — one that only the Democratic Party will participate in.
The Utah Republican Party announced last summer it would bypass the Super Tuesday primary in favor of holding a presidential preference poll during caucus meetings held throughout the state the same evening.
But the state’s Democrats are still counting on a state-run primary election to determine whether incumbent President Joe Biden or one of the other Democratic presidential candidates that have filed to be on the Utah ballot will be their choice for 2024.
“We think the best and the easiest and the most efficient way to get through this process is through a normal primary rather than having to go through the caucus system,” Utah Democratic Party spokesman Ben Anderson said, citing the expense.
Democrats were forced to hold a caucus in 2016, when the Utah GOP also chose to hold a caucus vote for their presidential nominee pick and state lawmakers decided not to fund what would have been a $3 million statewide primary election.
Many voters from both parties ended up waiting hours in long lines on a snowy night that year to vote at evening caucus meetings in a presidential election year that saw a long list of both Republican and Democratic candidates campaign in the state.
But despite record turnout for the party caucus meetings, the number of votes cast was still 53% higher in Utah’s 2008 presidential primary, the last time there were contested races for both parties.
Following the 2016 caucus chaos, the Utah Legislature established a statewide primary to be held on Super Tuesday, although political parties can opt out. In 2020, Utah spent $2.9 million on both the Republican and Democratic presidential primaries.
No money in the budget yet for a 2024 presidential primary
The bipartisan 2019 legislation called for $725,000 to be set aside annually to ensure funding for future presidential primaries, but that stopped during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the budget was slashed amid economic uncertainty.
That’s resulted in no money yet for this year’s presidential primary, said Duncan Evens, senior managing director of budget and operations for the Governor’s Office of Planning and Budget.
“There’s currently nothing budgeted for the primary,” Evans told the Deseret News.
Gov. Spencer Cox’s proposed budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1 calls for $1.5 million to be added to this year’s budget for a presidential primary. Evans said it’s expected to cost less because fewer ballots would have to be mailed with the GOP not participating.
The appropriation request will be “competing with everything else that’s looking for one-time money” rather than ongoing funding during the upcoming legislative session that begins Jan. 15, he said.
But the governor’s office sees the law establishing the presidential primary as spelling out that “if one of these qualified political parties wants to do a primary, the state has to pay for it,” Evans said, noting he’s not aware of any pushback on the funding request.
Neither is the sponsor of the bipartisan 2019 presidential primary legislation, Sen. Curt Bramble, R-Provo. He said he would “strongly resist” any attempt to forego funding a public election because the state’s majority Republicans aren’t taking part.
“I believe that the Legislature will respect the voice of the people, not partisanship, and approve the appropriation” for what he called “the people’s ballot.” Bramble said. “I don’t like the tribalism”
The longtime state senator also pointed out it’s too late in the election cycle to drop the primary.
“That might be a discussion for future elections, but I don’t see how we could change that for the 2024 cycle,” Bramble said. He said “everyone will be watching” the Republican Party caucus vote this time around to see if a repeat of 2016 can be avoided.
“Based on the experience in 2016 and the challenges with ballot integrity, with counting votes, with knowing who was registered (and) knowing who actually had the right to vote in a Republican primary ... that’s why we went to a presidential primary,” Bramble said.
How Utah Republicans will choose their presidential nominee
Utah GOP Chairman Rob Axson said the decision “to do our own process’’ is saving the state money “which is a benefit, but that wasn’t our primary goal. Our primary goal is to create a collaborative, community building process that the caucus provides.”
There will be some big differences from the 2016 caucuses, he said, including an online credentialing process and the ability to submit absentee ballots through a family member or neighbor.
Axson acknowledged fewer Republicans will likely turn out than would for a primary, but said while “the presidential selection process is very important,” caucus meetings are where “the lion’s share of a lot of dialogue happens” about political contests closer to home.
“So if the trade-off is losing some numeric participation in the selection of our presidential nominee but it also significantly increases participation in caucus, that’s creating a far more representative system” for other races, he said. “That’s important to the Republican Party.”
Candidates in Utah have the option of gathering voter signatures to earn a place on the primary ballot instead of — or in addition to — going through Utah’s caucus and convention nomination system.
Because the Utah GOP is not participating in a state presidential primary, Republican contenders for the White House had to file with the party, paying between $40,000 and $50,000 each to be on the caucus ballot.
Axson said former President Donald Trump filed, along with former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, investor Vivek Ramaswamy and businessman Ryan Binkley.
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum also filed with the Utah GOP, but has since dropped out of the race. He won’t get a refund, Axson said, adding there may be one more name on the caucus ballot that he isn’t ready to announce.
The money raised will be used to promote the party, including the upcoming caucus meetings, Axson said. The state collects a $500 filing fee from partisan presidential candidates.
The Democratic presidential candidates that have filed with the state are Biden, author and spiritual adviser Marianne Williamson, Minnesota Congressman Dean Phillips, New Yorker Frank Lozada, and Las Vegan Gabriel Cornejo.