By a 2-to-1 margin, Utah voters are opposed to returning to old election laws that made the caucus-convention system the sole method to select party nominees — which in many races prevented primary elections, like the one being held Tuesday.
They prefer the new system that also allows candidates to qualify for the ballot by gathering signatures. That may give voters more choice and more ability to disagree with party delegates who historically chose nominees from the political fringes.
“Utahns like the dual path” to the ballot, “and dislike anything that limits their choices,” said Rich McKeown, executive co-chairman of Count My Vote, a group of mostly moderate Republicans that seeks to cement that new system into law to protect it against ongoing challenges by the Utah Republican Party.