Failed petitioners ask Utah high court for help

By The Associated Press

07.17.02

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SALT LAKE CITY — Citing the principle of one-person, one-vote, organizers of a failed petition drive to hike taxes on radioactive waste have asked the Utah Supreme Court to throw out a portion of the state statute governing ballot initiatives.

The petition seeking to put the Radioactive Waste Restrictions Act on the November ballot was declared invalid by Lt. Gov. Olene Walker on the ground that organizers failed to get signatures for 10% of the registered voters in 20 of Utah's 29 counties.

The petition organizers yesterday asked the state's highest court to rule that the multi-county requirement is unconstitutional.

After the petition signatures were filed with county clerks, initiative opponents persuaded some signers to revoke their signatures, said attorney Lisa Watts Baskin, who represents the petitioners. The petition then was judged by Walker to have fallen short of the necessary 10% in 20 of 29 counties by a combined 147 signatures.

The petitioners argue that one-person, one-vote federal and state requirements were not recognized when the lack of signatures in rural counties made the signatures in urban counties insufficient.

"The rural vote counts so much more than the urban vote," Baskin said.

One-person, one-vote precedents don't necessarily apply to signatures, said Assistant Attorney General Thom Roberts, who represents Walker and defends the state law.

"Initiative procedures are one step removed from voting," Roberts said. "Voting-rights cases are not always directly applicable."

The proposed act would raise industry taxes and outlaw hotter radioactive waste than what is already allowed by Utah law. One opponent is Envirocare of Utah, one of three disposal firms in the country for commercially produced, low-level radioactive waste. Envirocare is pursuing a state permit to take the hotter waste.

State attorneys have until July 19 to respond to the organizers' court action.

Update

Utah high court overturns part of ballot-initiative law
Justices say statute gave rural residents a disproportionate voice in determining which measures go on ballot.  08.28.02