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The Republican Party is suing the state to overturn SB54, which it helped pass to compromise the Count My Vote initiative and the caucus/convention system. Republicans are wrong to oppose Utahns who want a more open electoral system.

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One-party rule certainly has its weird occurrences, even in Utah. The Utah Republican Party is suing the state of Utah to overturn SB54, which was passed by a heavily dominated Republican Legislature. And a Republican governor signed it! And some of those Republican legislators who joined in passing the bill are now supporting the suit, as is the governor who signed it into law earlier this year.

Just to clarify: Nothing about the law itself has changed. It is just that these Republican legislators and governor were faced with a popular initiative Count My Vote (CMV) that they wanted to kill. The way to do that was compromising with the CMV proponents on SB54.

But now that the pressure is off on CMV, Gov. Gary Herbert and some Republican legislators feel free to work against the same legislation they supported earlier this year. This is the kind of tactic that flourishes under one-party control where the voters will doesnt matter much because legislators are electorally safe. In fact, we have seen this movie before. In the 1990s, to forestall public pressure for term limits on legislators terms, the Legislature passed term limits on state legislators and then later repealed those limits before they came into effect.

Lets examine the merits of the Republicans suit. They claim SB54 violates the partys freedom to govern itself. According to party leaders, as a private organization, the party should be able to determine its own nomination process without interference from the state. They object to the requirement that political parties in Utah must open their primary elections to unaffiliated voters. They also dislike the provision that allows a bypass process for candidates who would rather file directly for a primary race than seek the endorsement of the party convention.

Are the Republicans right? Is a political party a private organization like a privately held corporation or a local book club? The answer, according to the U.S. Supreme Court, is yes and no.

The court has ruled that political parties are free to govern themselves in areas such as organization or party policy. But the Supreme Court draws a line on nominations. In several cases, the court has ruled that political parties are significant elements of the electoral process and therefore their electoral role can be subject to state regulation. That includes regulating whom the party can exclude from primary voting as well as how the party conducts primary elections.

Indeed, the role of political parties is built into the Utah Code. The Legislature not only has defined what a party is but also has prescribed certain roles for them. Parties get to place their nominees automatically on the ballot. The state pays for political parties primary elections by providing the election machinery for them. Moreover, the state constitution provides a special role for political party organizations in filling vacancies to the state Legislature.

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Richard Davis: SB54-opposing Republicans wrong to oppose open electoral system