Utah 2018 ballot measures

Elections in Utah, 2018

• General election: Nov. 6
• Voter registration deadline: Oct. 9 (mail), or Oct. 30 (online or in-person)
• Early voting: Oct. 23 - Nov. 2
• Absentee voting deadline: Nov. 6

• Online registration: Yes
• Same-day registration: Yes
• Voter ID: Non-photo ID required
• Poll times: 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

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← 2016

Seven statewide ballot measures were certified for the ballot in Utah on November 6, 2018. Five measures were approved, and two were defeated.

HIGHLIGHTS

Legislative referrals:Three constitutional amendments were referred to the ballot by the state legislature during the 2018 legislative session. Two were approved and one was defeated.

Initiatives:Three citizen-initiated measures were certified for the ballot. Proposition 2 was approved. It legalized medical use of marijuana. Proposition 3, which expanded Medicaid, was also approved. Proposition 4, which established an independent commission to recommend maps for redistricting to the state legislature, was approved by a margin of 7,000 votes.

Advisory question: In a compromise with the group behind an initiative to increase taxes to fund education, the legislature voted to put a non-binding advisory question on the ballot concerning a 10-cent gas tax increase. More than 65 percent of voters were opposed to the increase.

On the ballot

Type	Title	Subject	Description	Result
LRCA	Constitutional Amendment A	Taxes	Changes the time of service required to qualify for the tax exemption	a
LRCA	Constitutional Amendment B	Taxes	Allows tax exemption for property leased by a government entity	d
LRCA	Constitutional Amendment C	State legislatures	Allows legislature to convene a special session with restrictions	a
AQ	Nonbinding Opinion Question 1	Taxes	10-Cent Gas Tax Increase for Education and Local Roads	d
CISS	Proposition 2	Marijuana	Legalizes the medical use of marijuana
CISS	Proposition 3	Healthcare	Expands Medicaid under the ACA
CISS	Proposition 4	Redistricting	Creates an independent redistricting commission

Getting measures on the ballot

Utah allows citizen initiatives in the form of initiated state statutes and veto referendums. In Utah, initiated state statutes can be either directly or indirectly initiated. Signature requirements for directly-initiated statutes and referendum petitions are determined by calculating ten percent of the votes cast for president in the state in the last election. For indirectly initiated statute petitions, proponents must gather signatures equal to five percent of the votes cast for president in the state in the last election—a requirement of 56,572 for the 2018 ballot—to get the initiative before state legislators. A second, equal round of signatures is required if the legislature does not approve the initiative. The deadline to submit the first round of signatures for an indirect initiated state statute targeting the 2018 election ballot was November 15, 2017.

For veto referendums and direct initiated state statutes, at least 113,143 valid signatures were required. The deadline to file signatures for the 2018 ballot was April 16, 2018, or 316 days after the petition was initially filed with the lieutenant governor, whichever came first.

The Utah Legislature can also place legislatively referred constitutional amendments and legislatively referred state statutes on the ballot. The legislature can put a proposed amendment on the ballot upon a two-thirds majority vote in both the legislative chambers. The amendment must then be approved by a majority of voters voting in the general election, not just a majority of voters voting on the amendment.

Historical facts

See also: List of Utah ballot measures

• A total of 46 measures appeared on statewide ballots between 1995 and 2016.
• From 1995 to 2016, an average of four measures appeared on the ballot for even-year elections in Utah.
• The number of measures appearing on even-year statewide ballots between 1995 and 2016 ranged from one to seven.
• Between 1995 and 2016, 86.96 percent (40 of 46) of statewide measures were approved by voters, and 13.04 percent (6 of 46) were defeated.

Campaign contributions

See also: Ballot measure campaign finance, 2018

The following chart illustrates how much support and opposition committees had amassed in campaign contributions for each measure on the ballot:

Ballot Measure:	Support contributions:	Opposition contributions:	Outcome:
Utah Proposition 3	$3,790,008.59	$54,858.12
Utah Proposition 2	$950,123.58	$1,086,963.67
Utah Constitutional Amendment C	$0.00	$0.00	a
Utah Constitutional Amendment B	$0.00	$0.00	d
Utah Nonbinding Opinion Question 1	$1,299,964.54	$0.00	d
Utah Proposition 4	$2,798,943.44	$0.00

Signature petition costs

See also: Ballot measure signature costs, 2018

The cost-per-required signature (CPRS) is a comparison of the amount of money spent on the petition drive to the number of signatures the state requires for an initiative to make the ballot. The following chart illustrates the CPRS for ballot initiatives. A total of $2.8 million was spent on the three successful initiative petition drives in 2018.

Ballot Measure:	Topic:	Petition company	Cost	Signatures	CPRS
Utah Proposition 3	Healthcare	AAP Holding Company	$1,329,013.50	113,143	$11.75
Utah Proposition 2	Marijuana	Gathering, Inc. and various individuals	$473,798.75	113,143	$4.19
Utah Proposition 4	Redistricting measures	Grassroots Utah	$1,040,087.00	113,143	$9.19
Averages:	N/A	N/A	$947,633	N/A	$8.38

Not on the ballot

See also: Proposed ballot measures that were not on a ballot

The list below contains measures that were proposed and reached a certain stage in the initiative or referral process, but did not make the ballot.

Type	Title	Subject	Description	Result
LRCA	SJR 16	Education	Eliminates State Board of Education and gives Superintendent of Public Instruction Control over public education
CISS	Allow Caucus-Convention Method for Party Nominations Initiative	Elections and campaigns	Allows caucus-convention method for party nominees
CISS	Income and Sales Tax Increase for Public Education Initiative	Taxes	Increases the state income and sales taxes to provide additional education funding
CISS	Direct Primary Elections for Party Nominations Initiative	Elections	Requires direct primary elections for party nominees

See also

• 2018 ballot measures
• List of Utah ballot measures
• Laws governing the initiative process in Utah
• Utah Legislature

State profile

Demographic data for Utah
	Utah	U.S.
Total population:	2,990,632	316,515,021
Land area (sq mi):	82,170	3,531,905
Race and ethnicity**
White:	87.6%	73.6%
Black/African American:	1.1%	12.6%
Asian:	2.2%	5.1%
Native American:	1.1%	0.8%
Pacific Islander:	0.9%	0.2%
Two or more:	2.6%	3%
Hispanic/Latino:	13.4%	17.1%
Education
High school graduation rate:	91.2%	86.7%
College graduation rate:	31.1%	29.8%
Income
Median household income:	$60,727	$53,889
Persons below poverty level:	12.7%	11.3%
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2010-2015) Click here for more information on the 2020 census and here for more on its impact on the redistricting process in Utah. **Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.

Presidential voting pattern

See also: Presidential voting trends in Utah

Utah voted Republican in all six presidential elections between 2000 and 2020.

More Utah coverage on Ballotpedia

• Elections in Utah
• United States congressional delegations from Utah
• Public policy in Utah
• Endorsers in Utah
• Utah fact checks
• More...

External links

• Utah Division of Elections
• Utah Lt. Governor: 2018 Statewide Ballot Questions