FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 25, 2025
Arlington, VA – The legislature adjourned earlier this month in the Beehive State signaling the defeat of two bills posing irreparable harm to fair, secure, and transparent elections.
Ranked-Choice Voting
If passed, Senate Bill 127 would have extended the state’s pilot program (set to expire at the end of this year) allowing the use of the confusing, complex, and costly Ranked-Choice Voting scheme in certain primaries for local elections.
Ranked-Choice Voting has been fraught with problems and continually fails to deliver on its promises where implemented. In fact, officials in Utah have reported numerous concerns with the state’s pilot program. While the mayor of Sandy has referred to the town as a “guinea pig,” several jurisdictions have reported that promised cost savings have not materialized, voter engagement has fallen, and voters have struggled to adapt.
Under the pilot, many ballots have not been counted due to errors made in the ranking process. For example, in 2021 58% of ballots were either discarded out of hand or otherwise spoiled in the Genola City Council Race 1. Genola City Council Race 2 had a discarded or spoiled rate of over 74%.
Accuracy & Transparency
If passed, House Bill 270 would have opened the door to voter fraud by eliminating public access rights to confirm the accuracy voter rolls (in violation of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993).
Especially because state law provides for mass mail voting, it would be possible to put fraudulent names on the rolls with no way to publicly confirm accuracy, identity, or eligibility of the voter or the votes cast—including U.S. citizenship.
Current state law, which for example has already resulted in 65% of Utah County’s voter record being publicly inaccessible, already appears to be in violation of NVRA. House Bill 270 would likely create additional NVRA violations.
The Election Transparency Initiative conducted a robust grassroots outreach and education effort in Utah to stop Senate Bill 127 and House Bill 270.
National Chairman of the Election Transparency Initiative and former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli issued the following statement:
“The Election Transparency Initiative is dedicated to achieving fair and honest elections voters everywhere and of all types can trust. We thank our coalition partners and the lawmakers in Salt Lake City who stood their ground against anti-Election Integrity forces whose sole objective is to make our elections less secure, transparent, and accountable.
“Left-wing schemes like Ranked-Choice Voting and measures to erode public transparency and accuracy must always be rejected. Make no mistake, the voter rolls are not and should not ever be private—the only secret in the election process should be how one votes.”
Ranked-Choice Voting, also known as ‘Instant-Runoff Voting’ and ‘Preferential Voting,’ is a scheme that has made voting more confusing and difficult, reduced transparency, and put confidence and certainty at risk when implemented in public elections, with horror stories in Alaska, California, Colorado, Maine, New York, Utah, Virginia and elsewhere.
As designed, Ranked-Choice Voting manufactures a majority winner by routinely ‘exhausting’—or throwing out—thousands of ballots so candidates need only win a majority of the remaining votes, not a majority of all votes cast.
- Provided here is a comprehensive list of RCV horror stories.
- Read Chairman Cuccinelli’s Senate testimony, or view our fact sheet.
- Visit com to learn more.
The Election Transparency Initiative, a partnership between the American Principles Project (APP) and Susan B. Anthony (SBA) Pro-Life America, was organized to combat federal H.R. 1 and H.R. 4 legislation and advocate for state-based election reforms that voters can trust.
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