VICTORY: Utah to Implement a Fair Congressional Map

Salt Lake City, Utah — In a win for Utahns, the state’s Third District Court ruled yesterday that a fair congressional map will be implemented for the 2026 midterm elections. This decision follows years of litigation and repeated attempts by the Utah state legislature to impose a gerrymandered map on voters. 

Utah will now be using a map that plaintiffs, represented by Campaign Legal Center, submitted for consideration after the legislature passed yet another illegally gerrymandered map. Today’s decision follows a series of rulings by Utah state courts that have repeatedly affirmed the right of Utahns to meaningfully influence their government. 

Campaign Legal Center, on behalf of the League of Women Voters of Utah (LWV Utah), Mormon Women for Ethical Government (MWEG) and individual Utah voters, initially challenged the Utah state legislature’s repeal of Proposition 4, or Prop 4 – a ballot initiative passed by Utah voters in 2018 that prohibits partisan gerrymandering by establishing the Utah Independent Redistricting Commission and creating fair, neutral criteria and procedures for adopting district maps.  

In an August 25 ruling, the District Court found that the legislature’s repeal of Prop 4 violated the people’s right under the Utah constitution to alter and reform their government, reviving Prop 4 and striking down the gerrymandered 2021 congressional map. The legislature was given a chance to pass a map that complied with Prop 4, but the legislature passed a new gerrymandered map instead. That new map was drawn with partisan data, is an extreme partisan outlier, and fails to follow Prop 4’s neutral criteria. 

Today’s ruling strikes down that illegal map and implements a fair map for future Utah elections. 

“The League of Women Voters is both pleased and relieved that years of advocating for our voters resulted in a fair map,” said Katharine Biele, president of the League of Women Voters of Utah. “We hope this sends a message to our legislators that the voices of their constituents’ matters and we are confident that voters will continue to see Prop 4 as a law that will preserve their constitutional rights.” 

“Today, we see that, when people come together across party and ideological lines, we can exercise great political power – Not partisan power to control or win at all costs, but principled power that values the opinions of our neighbors and desires systems and processes that encourage healthy disagreement and debate,” said Emma Petty Addams, co-executive director of Mormon Women for Ethical Government. “Such principled power is the pathway to representation. When we the people are represented fairly, we have an increased sense of agency and civic empowerment. This is good for everyone in Utah.” 

“Utahns have continued to fight for their right to fair maps and representation despite the obstacles state lawmakers, afraid of being held accountable by voters using fair maps, have repeatedly tried to put in their way,” said Mark Gaber, senior redistricting director for Campaign Legal Center. “Utah’s courts have made it clear: Elections should be determined by the voters, not politicians who can manipulate voting maps.”

Today’s decision also blocked implementation of S.B. 1011, a law passed by the legislature to mandate the use of biased statistical tests to evaluate voting maps that would have virtually guaranteed a partisan gerrymander, directly undercutting Prop 4.

Campaign Legal Center also successfully defeated an effort to repeal Prop 4 for a second time via an “indirect initiative,” which would have violated the Utah state constitution. 

With these decisive legal victories for Utah voters, Campaign Legal Center will now work to ensure the promise of fair maps for Utahns is realized.
                                                                 

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The nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center advances democracy through law. We safeguard the freedom to vote, defend voters’ right to know who is spending money to influence elections, and work to ensure public trust in our elected officials. 

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