In a statement released Wednesday, the Utah Democratic Party announced that it will not hold a primary in 2016. Instead, the party will hold a presidential preference poll at its neighborhood caucuses. The now canceled primary would have allowed party members to vote online.
The state legislature had allocated $3 million dollars to hold state-run primaries. Lauren Littlefield, Executive Director for the Utah Democratic Party, said that covering the online primary alone would have been too expensive and that the party’s resources could be better used elsewhere.
“The $3 million would have paid for the Lieutenant Governor’s office to run an election just like they do in a general election. In considering an online system, we wanted to make sure it would be secure, also transparent,” Littlefield said. “To pay for a system that met all of our criteria, as well as the [Democratic National Committee’s] criteria, it was over $100,000 dollars. We really had to make a choice between spending $100,000 on this primary and spending $100,000 on the general election.”
The written statement pointed blame at state Republicans for delays in implementing the primary election reforms in SB54. Littlefield said that the party will now focus on getting Democrats out to vote on election day.
“We’re going to do a huge ‘get out the vote’ program, we’re focusing heavily on candidate recruitment right now to make sure we get top-quality candidates, we’re of course focused on the Fourth Congressional District and watching what Mia Love does like a hawk,” she said. “Our efforts in 2016 are about getting Democrats out to vote.”
Both parties are scheduled to hold their respective caucuses on March 22, 2016.
