To vote in Utah’s Democratic primary caucus last year, Kellie Henderson of Salt Lake City had to walk at least a mile and wait in line for three hours.
Henderson told Utah lawmakers on Tuesday that she had to trek from her home to the elementary school where her caucus was held because there was no parking nearby. At the school, she had to wait in a line for three hours before overwhelmed party volunteers running the caucus were able to help her cast a ballot. “It was just chaos,” Henderson said Tuesday. Rep. Patrice Arent, D-Millcreek, wants to avoid a similar mess and has sponsored a bill requiring the state to pay for and run a presidential primary every four years. “Political parties should be in the business of trying to win elections, not run them,” Arent said.
After leaders of the Utah Republican and Democratic parties spoke in favor of the bill, a Senate committee that handles government operations unanimously approved it, sending it to the full Senate for consideration.
Traditionally, Utah lawmakers have decided every four years if they’ll run a primary or not. They opted not to pay the $3 million cost of running a primary last year because Republicans had already decided they wanted to run their own caucus, offering an online-voting option.
Full Article: After caucus chaos, lawmaker wants Utah to pay for primaries – Fairfield Citizen.