Utah

State Election

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

This election is scheduled for the 8th of November 2016.
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
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.
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.

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
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
Richard Moore	Republican. Signature gathering candidate.

See: District Map

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"	Nay	Seemingly neutral affect. When in doubt, vote no.
B - "State School Fund provisions"	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"	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

• "2016 Candidate Filing & Ballot Information" - UtahCounty.gov
• Election Resources - utah.gov
• District Maps - Utah State Legislature
• Craig Frank, "2016 NOMINATING CONVENTION RESULTS", Utah County Republican Party, 19 April 2016

Issues

• Ag Gag
• Air Quality
• Common Core
• Food Freedom Act
• SB 54 of 2014

Counties

• Utah