Let Every Utahn Vote in the Election That Counts

Why this matters

Ask yourself which election really picks most of Utah’s leaders. For most offices, it isn’t November. It’s the Republican primary in June, or the party convention before that. By the time most Utahns get a ballot, the choice has already been made.

That system rewards the wrong things. A candidate who works across the aisle, compromises to get things done, or says something sensible that their party’s base doesn’t want to hear isn’t punished by the voters in November. They’re punished months earlier, by a small and more partisan slice of voters. So politicians learn to fear their primary more than they want to solve problems. That’s a big reason Washington is stuck.

The problem, by the numbers

Across the country, about 87% of U.S. House races in 2024 were effectively decided in primaries, by just 7% of eligible voters. In 169 of those safe seats, only one candidate was even on the dominant party’s primary ballot, so the winner was effectively elected without a single contested vote.

The result is a Congress with almost no middle left. Fifty years ago, 144 House Republicans were less conservative than the most conservative Democrat, and dozens of Democrats were less liberal than the most liberal Republican. That overlap was where deals got made. In the House, it disappeared entirely in the early 2000s, and in the Senate, it ended in 2004.

87%of U.S. House races in 2024 effectively decided in primaries

7%of eligible voters made those decisions

Noneideological overlap left between the parties in Congress

Utah’s version of the problem

In Utah, the Republican primary is closed. Only registered Republicans can vote in it, while the Democratic primary is open to anyone. But in a state where Republicans win most races, the Republican primary is usually the election that decides who serves.

That leaves a lot of Utahns out. About half of Utah’s registered voters aren’t Republicans, including more than a third who are unaffiliated, and that group is growing fast. So many Utahns do the only thing the system allows: they register as Republicans just to have a say.

That includes a lot of Democrats. They aren’t switching to cause mischief. Most switch to back the more mainstream, centrist Republican in a race they know a Democrat won’t win in November. Before the 2020 governor’s primary, about 100,000 Utahns changed their registration to Republican, most of them unaffiliated, and nearly 7,800 active Democrats left their party in a single month. A former state Democratic Party chairman publicly re-registered and urged his followers to do the same. That primary was decided by just 6,319 votes. One analysis found that just over 39,000 Democrats switched to the Republican Party after January 2020 and never switched back.

Neither party is happy about it. Republican leaders call it raiding, and the Legislature passed a law in 2021 to stop voters from switching parties after March 31 in an election year. The state Democratic Party now urges its members to “come home”. Both sides have a point. Nobody should have to pretend to belong to a party just to get a meaningful vote. An open primary ends the game: everyone votes on the same ballot, and nobody has to switch anything.

Only registered Republicans may vote in Utah's Republican primary. Source: Independent Voter Project, from Utah voter registration data.

Then there’s the convention. A few thousand party delegates can push candidates off the ballot or crown a favorite. In 2024, delegates gave Phil Lyman 67.5% at the state convention, and Governor Spencer Cox only made the ballot because he’d gathered signatures. When the race opened to all Republican voters, Cox won the primary by more than 37,000 votes. The same pattern has repeated for decades: Governors Leavitt and Herbert both lost at convention and then won their primaries easily. Delegates and voters often want very different things.

Case in point: how Utah lost Bob Bennett

In 2010, Senator Bob Bennett was a three-term conservative Republican who had won his last election with 69% of the vote. He had also committed two sins in the eyes of his party’s activists: he voted for the 2008 bank rescue, and he co-wrote a bipartisan health care bill with Democratic Senator Ron Wyden.

About 3,500 delegates at the state convention chanted “TARP” while he tried to speak, then eliminated him in the second round with less than 27% of the vote. Not a single primary voter ever got a say. The seat went to Mike Lee, the candidate who ran hardest against working with the other side. On the Lugar Center’s 2023 index of bipartisan lawmaking, he ranked 92nd of 98 senators.

That was pure partisanship. A senator was fired not for failing Utah, but for trying to solve a problem with a Democrat. Every Utah politician since has learned the lesson.

That signature path exists because of SB54, the 2014 law that gave candidates a second way onto the ballot. It’s been under attack ever since, and it’s one of the best things Utah has done for voters.

My plan

1. One open primary for everyone

I support a nonpartisan top-two primary for Utah’s state, legislative, and congressional races. It’s simple:

Every candidate runs on one primary ballot, whatever their party. Each can list the party they prefer.
Every registered voter gets that ballot, Republican, Democrat, or unaffiliated. You vote for one candidate, just like today.
The top two finishers advance to November, whatever their party.

California and Washington State have used versions of this for more than a decade, and the nation’s highest court upheld Washington’s system in 2008. Parties can still hold conventions and endorse candidates. They just can’t decide on their own who everyone else gets to vote for.

2. Why this helps the middle, especially in Utah

Here’s what would happen in much of Utah. In a deep-red district, the top two finishers will often both be Republicans. That’s fine. Now November becomes a real contest between two Republicans, and every Utahn gets to vote in it: Republicans, Democrats, and the third of the state that’s unaffiliated.

Think about what that does to a campaign. A candidate who only appeals to the party’s base can win a closed primary. But in a November race between two Republicans, where Democrats and independents also vote, the candidate who can win over the middle has the advantage. The hard-liner has to broaden their appeal or lose. Either way, voters in the middle finally matter.

That means some Utah districts won’t have a Democrat on the November ballot. I’m fine with that. I’d rather Utah elect the best Republican with every voter’s say than keep a system where a few thousand delegates pick, and the rest of us just ratify.

3. Until then: open the Republican primary to unaffiliated voters

A top-two primary takes time to pass. In the meantime, there’s a simpler fix: if taxpayers pay for a primary election, every taxpayer should have a vote in it, or at least every voter who isn’t a member of another party. Unaffiliated Utahns already can vote in the Democratic primary. They deserve a vote in the Republican one too.

4. Protect the signature path

I’d defend SB54 against every attempt to repeal it. No candidate should need permission from a few thousand delegates to let voters decide.

5. Let states lead, not Washington

Elections in America are run by the states, and that’s how it should stay. I wouldn’t force this system on any state from Washington. I’d make the case for it here in Utah, back states that want to try it, and help them learn from what works.

An honest look at the evidence

Open primaries aren’t magic. In 2024, voters in eight states rejected ballot measures for open primaries or ranked-choice voting, often after both parties campaigned hard against them. Many of those measures also bundled in ranked-choice voting, which voters found confusing. That’s one reason I favor a simple top-two system: one ballot, one vote, top two advance. And in Alaska, the only state using a similar system statewide, voters narrowly chose to keep it in 2024.

Researchers also still debate how much open primaries reduce polarization. But even a modest effect beats a system built to reward the extremes. And the most basic argument doesn’t depend on any study: every voter should get a say in the election that actually decides who represents them.

What I won’t do

Take away a party’s right to organize, hold conventions, or endorse candidates.
Force this on other states from Washington.
Push a system so complicated that voters don’t trust it.

Questions people ask

Isn’t this just a way to help Democrats?

No. In most of Utah, it would put two Republicans on the November ballot and fewer Democrats. It helps candidates who can appeal to the middle, from either party. Many of Utah’s most successful Republicans, the ones who lost at convention and won with voters, are exactly the kind of candidates it rewards.

What if two people from the same party make it to November?

Then voters get a real choice in November instead of a foregone conclusion. In a safe district, that’s usually more competition than the current system offers, not less.

Don’t parties have the right to pick their own nominees?

Parties can still choose whom to endorse, and they’re free to campaign for them. But the primary is run by the state and paid for by taxpayers. Every taxpayer should have a voice in who appears on the ballot.

Won’t this confuse voters?

It’s simpler than what we have now. Everyone gets the same primary ballot and votes for one candidate. No need to register with a party just to have a say.

The bottom line

Utahns are practical people. We don’t need more politicians who are afraid of their own party’s base. We need leaders who answer to all of us. Let every voter vote in the election that counts, and the middle will take care of itself.