Utah

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State Election

8 November 2016 Election, Utah
Next covered election: November 2017, Utah

This election is scheduled for the 8th of November 2016.[1]
The Republican Primary is scheduled for June 28th.

Candidates

Governor

Name Notes
Brian E Kamerath, Barry Evan Short Our pick.
Libertarian
L.S. Brown, Hal B. Massey Unaffiliated
Superdell Schanze, Gregory C. Duerden Independent American Party
Candidates to Not Vote for
Gary R. Herbert, Spencer J. Cox Republican. Incumbent. Signature gathering candidate.
Mike Weinholtz, Kim Bowman Democrat
Vaughn R. Cook, Jan Vandenberghe Garbett Democrat
Eliminated Candidates[2][3]
Jonathan Johnson, Robyn Bagley Our primary pick.
Republican. Caucus Candidate.
Gary R. Van Horn, Patricia Kent Independent American Party
Nate G. Jensen Republican. Suspended his campaign and endorsed Jonathan Johnson.[4]
Carlos J. Tavares Jr. Republican

Auditor

Name Notes
John Dougall Our pick.
Republican. Incumbent.
Jared Green Independent American Party. Can't find any sign of an actual campaign.
Candidates to Not Vote for
Mike Mitchell Democrat

Treasurer

Name Notes
Richard Proctor Our pick.
Constitution Party
David Damschen Republican. Incumbent.
Appointed, taking office in Jan 2016.
Candidates to Not Vote for
Neil A. Hansen Democrat

Attorney General

Name Notes
Michael W. IsBell Our Pick.
Independent American Party
Sean D. Reyes Republican. Incumbent.
W. Andrew McCullough Libertarian
Eliminated Candidates
Jon V. Harper Democrat. Withdrew from the race, citing health.[5]

Utah Senate - District 7

Name Notes
Deidre M. Henderson Our Pick.
Republican. Incumbent.
Andrew Apsley Democrat

See: District Map

Utah Senate - District 14

Name Notes
Joe Buchman Libertarian. Libertarian principles. Extraterrestrial enthusiast.
Dan Hemmert Republican. Caucus candidate. Supports Gary Herbert.
Curt Crosby Independent American Party. Not really campaigning. Libertarian principles, but apparently pro-Trump. Multilevel marketing.
Eliminated Candidates[6]
Morgan Philpot Our Primary Pick.
Republican. Caucus candidate.

None of these candidates is at all ideal.

See: District Map

Utah House - District 67

Name Notes
Marc Roberts Our pick.
Republican. Incumbent. Caucus candidate.
Eliminated Candidates[7]
Richard Moore Republican. Signature gathering candidate.

See: District Map

U.S. Senate

U.S. House - District 3

Name Notes
Jason Chaffetz Our pick.
Republican. Incumbent.
Candidates to Not Vote for
Stephen P. Tryon Democrat.

See: District Map

U.S. House - District 4

Name Notes
Mia B. Love Our pick.
Republican. Incumbent.
Collin R. Simonsen Constitution Party.
Candidates to Not Vote for
Doug Owens Democrat.

Both of these candidates seem pretty good.

See: District Map

Judicial Retainment - 4th Judicial District

The retainment votes are tricky. We're not comparing one candidate against another, so that we can fall back on relative merit easily. Though, one could compare the candidates against each other, rank them, and pick a cut-off. Grading on the curve never seems altogether fair or constructive, however. People tend to vote "yes", even thought they have little to no information. This tends to make bad judges very hard to oust. At the same time "when in doubt, vote no" seems an overly harsh rule to apply. At the same time, it seems almost necessary to counteract the mindless reverence that sitting judges tend to elicit from the voting public. At the very least, when in doubt, don't vote. Voting uninformed can be worse than not voting. We will not make a recommendation unless we feel we have found enough information to judge the probability of a vote being a good one.

Name Recommendation
Darold J. McDade Yes
F. Richards Smith III
Suchada P. Bazzelle No

Constitutional Amendments

Amendment Position Notes
A - "technical wording change in the oath of office"[8] Nay Seemingly neutral affect. When in doubt, vote no.
B - "State School Fund provisions"[9] Nay Short term strategy implementation that will hurt the State School Fund in the long run.
C - "property tax exemption for tangible personal property that is leased by the state"[10] Nay Seems to complicate the process of calculating the needed revenues, and solve imaginary problems. Admittedly, there are other concerns as well, which would require a better understanding of tangible personal property taxes. It is somewhat alarming that such a tax even exists. Keep it simple, and, when in doubt, vote no. (Really, Utah is taxing business furniture, just because it's there? Registration fees for vehicles that drive on state roads are understandable. A tax on some business's couch? That's just theft, and ridiculous micro-managed theft at that.)

County Elections

November 2016 Election, Utah County, Utah

External Resources

References


Issues

Counties

References