​By Otto Krauss

​There has been some news lately about the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC) and what it does, but mostly because a number of states have cut ties with the organization in the last year. Why is ERIC significant and why should Utahns care about this organization?

​"​If I were the devil … If I were the Prince of Darkness, I’d want to engulf the whole world in darkness. And I’d have a third of its real estate, and four-fifths of its population, but I wouldn’t be happy until I had seized the ripest apple on the tree — Thee."  

​"​So, I’d set about however necessary to take over the United States. I’d subvert the churches first — I’d begin with a campaign of whispers. With the wisdom of a serpent, I would whisper to you as I whispered to Eve: ‘Do as you please.’"

​​“To the young, I would whisper that ‘The Bible is a myth.’ I would convince them that man created God instead of the other way around. I would confide that what’s bad is good, and what’s good is ‘square.’ And the old, I would teach to pray, after me, ‘Our Father, which art in Washington…’"

The federal government’s failed policies and inability to protect our country’s border is causing upheaval and strain on states across the nation, including Utah. We are being forced to deal with the public safety, financial and humanitarian consequences of President Biden's failure to enforce immigration law. The result is that over two-thirds of captured illegal aliens are released back into our community here in Utah.

The Biden administration continues to make detention of illegal aliens difficult or impossible for local authorities to handle. Several federal agency's tactics are designed to discourage local jails from cooperating with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) threatening the public safety of all people living in Utah.

ICE’s detention standards have become more absurd as a reaction to multiple lawsuits filed by many anti-enforcement groups. The Biden Administration’s response has been more stringent federal standards for ICE “detainees.” Whether intended or not, the consequences of these standards are that they cannot be met by our county jails.

Much has been said about how SB 54 and the signature gathering path has disrupted our Party’s ability to nominate candidates at our convention. What hasn’t been said is under these new election laws the Party is still in control of holding our convention and setting the parameters necessary to send a convention winner to the States Primary election. The Party makes that determination, constitutionally.
 
There is nothing in current election law that prohibits how a qualified political party determines its convention winner. And because the signature candidate is already in the Primary with an R behind their name, there is nothing that prohibits the Party from directing their delegates to consider a vote for a signature candidate as a wasted vote to determine the Party’s convention winner. The state runs elections, but we, the Republican Party of Utah, as a private constitutionally independent organization, run our political party and we alone determine how we qualify a convention winner for the state-run Primary.
 
As it is now, I doubt we will ever have another Primary election in Utah without a signature candidate with an R behind their name on the ballot. For this reason, our Party must determine how we can remain relevant in delivering a convention only candidate to the Primary vetted by our elected delegates. Among all the unfair practices within our current election law, nothing prohibits us from exercising our constitutional rights of assembly and association in determining our Party’s approved candidate. We must rewrite our bylaws to protect our caucus/convention process. Or dissolve the Party because nothing matters except declaring yourself a Republican, buying signatures, and spending big money to get elected.

​Our Caucus/Convention system here in Utah is the closest we will ever get to real self-government. The idea that local neighborhood groups actually have a say in who represents them in the Party business is lost on most Americans. Without the Caucus system, our ability for grass roots participation in the political process will vanish. You will be represented by the big money influencers currently attacking our conservative values and principles.

As a Precinct Vice Chair, I worked hard to ensure participation. I conducted many Caucus training sessions and personally hung 100 door hangers in my Precinct. I reached out to the Party for contact information to communicate with Republican voters in my neighborhood and was surprised to discover that no effort had been made by Party leadership to provide anything other than name and addresses of voters used to register for caucus. I guess in the real world of text and email communications, the Party prefers snail mail. So, we went about our business of running our Caucus with 39 attendees out of 493 registered Republicans. That’s an 8% participation rate so the efforts by the big money liberals to destroy our Caucus system is working full steam ahead.