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Count My Vote on Wednesday's Access Utah

politicit.com

What’s the best way to involve people in the political process? Former presidential candidate Mitt Romney is in favor of the Count My Vote initiative, which would mandate a change to direct primaries to determine party nominees. He says that the current caucus and convention system excludes many people and rarely reflects how rank-and-file party members feel. 

Rep. Jason Chaffetz is against the initiative, saying that big money and big name ID would dominate the process under a direct primary system. State Sen. Curtis Bramble’s (R-Provo) SB54, which the senator describes as a compromise and which Count My Vote opposes, is moving through the legislature. Gov. Gary Herbert says that a veto is possible if the bill makes it to his desk. We’ll have representatives from Keep Our Caucus and Count My Vote on Wednesday’s AU.  And we’ll ask you what you think. Are you active in the political process? Or have you dropped out? Do you see problems with the current system? Or should we keep our caucuses and conventions? Why or why not?

Listener Response:

“Excited to be involved at ground level in caucus system in Utah, coming from CA; but want more participation, which perhaps primary system would give us.”-- Janice, Logan

"I laud the LDS Church for encouraging members to participate in their local caucus. However, reality is that without continually urging its members to participate, involvement from those members will once again decrease, and once again we’re left with people with extreme views who do the electing for us. Is that our fault for not participating? Perhaps.  But Chaffetz and Lee would not be elected, and Bob Bennett would still be a Utah senator, had there been an open primary. At least with a primary I have a choice." -- Dennis, Cache Junction

"I don't buy that CMV's motivation is about low voter turnout.  Isn't this really about control of the Republican party in Utah--and the perceived disproportionately significant influence of more passionate, ideologically driven individuals versus the general Republican electorate?" --Chris, Southern Utah

Tom Williams worked as a part-time UPR announcer for a few years and joined Utah Public Radio full-time in 1996. He is a proud graduate of Uintah High School in Vernal and Utah State University (B. A. in Liberal Arts and Master of Business Administration.) He grew up in a family that regularly discussed everything from opera to religion to politics. He is interested in just about everything and loves to engage people in conversation, so you could say he has found the perfect job as host “Access Utah.” He and his wife Becky, live in Logan.