Utah: State Senate votes to restrict initiative rights
In action on two bills about elections on Tuesday, the Senate passed one to make it tougher for voter initiatives to appear on ballots ”” and killed another that would have allowed candidates to receive nominations from more than one party. The Senate voted 26-1 to pass SB165 by Sen. Curt Bramble, R-Provo, and sent it to the House. It would prohibit using electronic signatures on websites to help qualify a candidate, party or referendum for the ballot. It also would base the number of signatures needed to get an initiative on the ballot on the number of votes cast for president in the last election, instead of those cast for governor ”” essentially requiring more signatures.