- The petition to put Utah’s redistricting law back on the ballot fell below the signature threshold on Wednesday.
- A coordinated signature removal campaign by Better Boundaries targeted Senate districts in Salt Lake County.
- Nearly 1,000 voters have removed their signatures in District 15, which covers Midvale and Cottonwood Heights.
The Republican-led effort to put Utah’s redistricting law back on the ballot fell below the required threshold in one state Senate district on Wednesday after a signature removal campaign by supporters of Proposition 4.
This means that the repeal of Prop 4 will not appear on the ballot despite $4.35 million spent on professional signature gathering, involvement from Turning Point Action and an endorsement from President Donald Trump and his son, Donald Trump Jr.
GOP plans to reverse the 2018 initiative that established a redistricting commission and map-drawing guidelines were stymied by a coordinated signature removal campaign driven by Better Boundaries, the nonprofit group behind Prop 4.
These efforts have so far resulted in roughly 7,000 removed signatures, dooming the GOP petition and showcasing the competing narratives over how election boundaries in Utah should be decided amid a national partisan redistricting war.
Over the course of five months, opposing signature collection and signature removal efforts produced escalating allegations of misleading messaging on both sides and multiple instances of violence against petition circulators.
Utah Republican Party chair Rob Axson, who sponsored the petition alongside Attorney General Derek Brown and U.S. Sen. Mike Lee, thanked the thousands of Utahns who signed the repeal petition in a statement to the Deseret News.
“Utahns spoke loudly in the face of an unprecedented onslaught of biased media coverage, outside influence, and judicial interference,” Axson said. “Whether now or in the future, by litigation or initiative, we will Repeal Prop 4.”
“This fight is not over but just beginning.”
How did the repeal petition fail?
Updated data obtained by the Deseret News from the statewide Vista program revealed that signature removal requests processed on Wednesday reduced the total number of verified signatures for the Prop 4 repeal petition by 597.
While the signature total remains more than 20,000 above the requirement of 141,000 signatures across Utah, nearly 330 of the most recent removal requests were in Senate District 15, dropping it nearly 260 below the threshold.
To qualify for the ballot, Utahns for Representative Government, the Republican group behind the initiative to repeal Prop 4, needed to gather 8% of voter signatures statewide and in 26 of 29 state Senate districts.
On Feb. 15, the group submitted the last of its roughly 225,000 voter signatures. A signature rejection rate of about 25% yielded around 170,000 valid signatures — well surpassing the 141,000-signature requirement.
The petition beat the threshold in exactly 26 districts, leaving no margin for error as Better Boundaries, the nonprofit behind Prop 4, sent letters, texts and calls to thousands of signees urging them to remove their name.
Better Boundaries told signers they had signed “a pro-gerrymandering petition” and instructed them on how to remove their name by contacting their county clerk. GOP officials said this characterization was misleading.
But the targeted signature removal campaign paid off. Over one month, Better Boundaries, and other groups, convinced nearly 1,000 voters in district 15, covering Midvale and Cottonwood Heights, to remove their name from the petition.
“With reports suggesting the Prop 4 repeal may not qualify for the ballot, we will continue to help Utah voters who felt they were misled about what they signed to remove their signatures,” Better Boundaries executive director Elizabeth Rasmussen told the Deseret News.
In a statement, Rasmussen pointed out that individuals who recently signed the petition still have the opportunity to remove their name for 45 days after their name was posted on the Lieutenant Governor’s website. The final day is April 23.
“A well-informed voting population leads to better outcomes for everyone,” the statement said. “A majority of Utah voters approved Prop 4 in 2018 and we look forward to the day when Utah voters can finally pick their politicians, not the other way around.”
How we got here
Since 3rd District Judge Dianna Gibson tossed out Utah’s congressional district map in August, Axson has argued Prop 4, and the legal precedent it created, removed redistricting authority from accountable elected representatives.
Lawmakers replaced Prop 4 with a compromise solution in 2020 that led to a 2021 map splitting the Democratic stronghold of Salt Lake County in four. The map, drawn by special interest groups, that was chosen by Gibson kept the county mostly together to create a Democratic district.
This messy process led both sides to accuse the other of gerrymandering. “We have significant concerns about the practices utilized by the opposition” Axson said, “and continue to review the signature validation and removal process.”
Better Boundaries has highlighted complaints of signature gatherers making inaccurate statements to score signatures. Some gatherers characterized the initiative as trying to “stop gerrymandering” or “remove the crooked judge.”
As the GOP and Better Boundaries battled over signatures, legal efforts to challenge Prop 4 by the state Legislature and U.S. Reps. Burgess Owens and Celeste Maloy were denied by the Utah Supreme Court and federal three-judge panel.
In February, Utahns for Representative Government sued to prevent Better Boundaries’ signature removal letters from being tallied, alleging that they violated a state statute that prohibits paying someone to remove their signature.
Then, late on the last night of the 2026 legislative session, Utah lawmakers adopted a substitute version of HB242, clarifying that the prohibition on paid incentives to remove a signature did apply to pre-paid postage.
