State of Utah’s single member district electoral scheme yields greatest representational disparity since decennial redistricting

SALT LAKE CITY – The Libertarian Organizing Committee released its post-general election analysis comparing the partisan allocation of seats in the State of Utah’s Senate and House of Representatives.

In all contested races for the Utah House of Representatives, Democrats received three fewer seats under the winner-take-all, single member district system than had the seats been allocated proportionally per the number of votes received, according to an analysis of data from the State Elections Office performed by Rob Latham, chairman of the Libertarian Organizing Committee.

Similarly, Democrats received four fewer seats in all races for the Utah House of Representatives under the winner-take-all, single member district system than had the seats been allocated proportionally. In the state senate, the votes vs. seats gap for contested races was one less seat for the Democrats.

"The representational disparity is the greatest since the last redistricting," says Latham. "This data shows how uncompetitively-drawn districts helped stifle in Utah what was a significant national shift in the electorate in 2006."

Charts illustrating votes-to-seats comparisons in Utah state legislative races since 1990 are available at the FairVoteUtah group’s web site.

Despite the growing distortion between votes and seats, Democratic state legislators in Utah continue to avoid proposing meaningful reforms that would result in a closer fit between voter behavior and electoral outcomes.

"One could admire the self-sabotage Utah Democratic leaders continue to inflict upon their political base by resisting electoral reforms that might undermine the single member district plurality system that advantages the Democratic Party in other states," says Latham.

"For their sake," says Latham, "I hope that over-represented federal and state Democrats are handsomely rewarding under-represented Utah Democrats for their solidarity."

Despite local Democrats’ use of the rhetoric of electoral reform, proposed legislation by Democratic state legislators would further entrench the status quo.

For example, Utah state house Democrats claim to offer political "balance," and retiring Democratic state senator Patrice Arent recently said: "Voters should pick legislators, and legislators should not pick voters."

Nonetheless, Democratic state legislators uniformly support Representative Roz McGee's bill to create a redistricting commission, which would merely insert one degree of separation between politicians and voters … who would then be picked by political appointees.

Data from the State Elections Office also shows that Utah Democrats did not field a candidate in 27 percent of state house races.

In a sign that increasing numbers of Americans don't trust political incumbents to implement more competitive and representative electoral systems, voters passed into law all four ranked choice voting initiatives on the ballot in 2006.