At the Republican Party State Organizing Convention on April 22, 2023, you will have an opportunity to vote on a change to Article XII of the Party Constitution.

Here's a setup that may likely be presented to manipulate you. Please investigate and do not be deceived by it. You will essentially be told:

"There is an emergency in Salt Lake County that requires you to vote for this constitution amendment. You cannot ignore Salt Lake County. This affects you wherever you reside. Only this amendment can end the emergency."

But consideration of the facts exposes at least part of the problem that Salt Lake County experiences. The problem is caused by its failure to adhere to the Party Constitution regarding delegate allocation--not by any inadequacies (of the Constitution) that require correction.

Specifically, the Salt Lake County Republican Party Bylaws, in Article VIII, Section 3C, provide that a state and county delegate position shall be allocated to every precinct, even if there are no, or essentially no, Republicans within that precinct. As a consequence, many delegate seats are allocated to areas of the county where there are very few Republicans.

The Party Constitution, in Article XII, Section 1A, states that county parties shall designate the number of delegates (meaning both county and state) elected in each precinct caucus according to the Relative Republican Strength formula. It does not authorize or allow delegate positions to be automatically assigned to a precinct regardless of its Republican strength.

The Salt Lake County Republican Party must follow the Republican strength formula as it now exists within the Constitution. By following this formula, the present misallocation of delegates to Democrat-heavy precincts may be avoided.

If this constitution amendment were to be passed, here are some of the terrible consequences:

• County delegates would no longer be required to be allocated to--and elected in--precincts. They could be allocated in an unfair and non-uniform manner (such as appointed by the chair or by public officeholders), including outright elimination of precinct elections. A permanent and irreversible process could easily be created where those receiving preferential treatment would always vote to continue receiving this treatment. Grassroots Republicans could be permanently shut out of the process.


• State delegates could be distributed based on "relative republican strength of the precincts". But this phrase could be interpreted in various ways, since the proposed amendment eliminates the unambiguous definition of relative republican strength (see text with strikeout in the amendment). For example, a revised definition of "relative republican strength" could mean financial strength--allowing delegate positions to be assigned to those who have the most money to contribute (pay) to get them. A corporate lobbyist dream.


• The term "substantially inhabited" is not defined. This would allow it to be arbitrarily applied, denying proper allocation of state delegates to precincts that would otherwise receive them under the present constitution.


• The abuse of fair process caused by "delegate stacking" becomes possible. Stacking allows county delegates to be concentrated without regard to Republican voting strength. Fairness is replaced with favoritism.

Vote NO on the Article XII Constitution amendment proposal! The perceived advantages of the amendment are heavily outweighed by its flaws. There's no issue with the Constitution that could possibly justify disposal of the current precinct-level, grassroots system created by it. Stand on your precinct ground. If lost, it may be difficult or impossible to regain.