‘Straight-up lies’: Lawsuit claims Amendment D ballot language deceives Utah voters

SALT LAKE CITY ( ABC4 ) — Several organizations and individuals have filed a preliminary injunction claiming Amendment D — which is set to be on Utah’s November ballot — uses deceitful language to mislead Utah voters.

According to court documents, the League of Women Voters of Utah and Mormon Women for Ethical Government , along with several individuals, are claiming that the summary of Amendment D that will be on the voting ballot “seeks through deception to mislead Utah voters into surrendering their constitutional rights.”

“The ballot language violates the Constitution’s and Code’s requirements for submitting amendments to voters,” the document read.

Mark Gaber, an attorney on the case, said the “wording on the ballot and the amendment have nothing to do with each other.”

“When I read that language, I guess I was shocked,” he said. “I was shocked at the level of deception that the speaker of the house and the senate president were willing to engage in on a ballot in a democracy.”

The court document claims that the Utah Constitution requires that the amendment itself — or at the very least an accurate summary — is submitted to voters to approve, “not a misleading and false summary of it.”

President J. Stuart Adams and Speaker Mike Shultz sent a statement to ABC4 on the filing of the injunction saying, “It’s ironic that the very people who claim to advocate for greater voter engagement are the same ones trying to obstruct Utahns from having the opportunity to vote on this important matter.”

“The plaintiffs are clearly concerned about leaving it to voters to decide. Before initiatives overwhelm and significantly alter our state, Utahns should have the opportunity to voice their opinions,” the statement read.

The injunction is the latest in a series of complaints that ultimately culminated in the Utah State Legislature calling a special session in August. During the session, legislators approved the passage of Senate Joint Resolution 40 which secured a spot for the constitutional amendment on the November ballot.

Gaber said this issue began in 2018 when voters passed Proposition 4 calling for an independent redistricting process to combat gerrymandering in the state of Utah. The legislature later repealed Proposition 4 and “replaced it with a watered-down version that put no limits on the legislature,” he said.

A bipartisan group then challenged the legislature through a lawsuit that the Utah Supreme Court unanimously passed in July. Gaber said the court agreed that “there’s an existing constitutional right that Utah voters have to alter and reform their government, and the legislature can’t just then repeal those initiatives.”

Adams and Schultz, however, previously said the ruling was “one of the worst outcomes” they had seen from the Utah Supreme Court. They said the court’s ruling allowed voter initiatives to “become immutable ‘super laws.'”

Gaber said the house speaker and senate president previously expressed their desire to weaken the initiative process when responding to the court’s ruling, however, Amendment D now claims to strengthen the initiative process.

“It just straight-up lies about what the amendment would do,” Gaber said. “It is really just an amazing effort to trick the voters of Utah into forfeiting their constitutional rights and transferring them over to the legislature.”

Gaber encourages voters to do research and educate themselves on the amendment .

“The voters of Utah need to band together. This isn’t a partisan issue. This is not an ideological issue. It’s about whether or not the people have the power over the legislature,” he said.

Matthew Drachman contributed to reporting.

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