NOTICE TO ALL MEMBERS OF THE REPUBLICAN STATE CENTRAL COMMITTEE

​There has been a Notice of Intent to File a Claim provided to the Republican Party Chair. This means the Party has time to correct this act of omission, or be sued.

The claim is directed against members of the State Central Committee and State Party Officers, who have persistently disregarded our Party Constitution and failed to demand the correction of mistakes in direct violation of party members and Claimant’s First and Fourteenth Amendment rights.

Background

The Utah Republican Party held an indirect primary (their Convention) on April 27, 2024. Elected delegates voted for Republican candidates for various state and federal offices. Some candidates, including Phil Lyman, received over 60% of the delegate votes cast. Candidates seeking the Republican nomination in the Party's indirect primary receiving more than 60% of the delegate vote become the nominee at convention and are to be included in the general election ballot certification per the Utah Republican Constitution. 

A qualified political party that nominates a candidate in their indirect primary, must certify the name of the candidate and the appropriate ballot (primary or general) to the lieutenant governor before…” 5:00 p.m. on April 29, 2024. The State Party Chair serving as "liaison with the Lieutenant Governor of the State of Utah on all matters relating to state election laws," provides the ballot certification to the Lieutenant Governor subject to the directives of the State Central Committee, the governing body of the Party. 

It is important to note here, the Lt Governor serves as the chief election officer whose main responsibility is to oversee elections. Pursuant to Utah Code, the lieutenant governor is to perform ministerial duties (without judgement) and place those candidates certified to the appropriate ballots as instructed by the Utah Republican Party. So, either the Utah Republican Party Chair submitted a proper ballot to the Lt Governor (LYMAN STRAIGHT TO THE GENERAL based on the Party’s constitution) and the Lt Governor submitted a counterfeit ballot to the state…because it was in her best interest to do so...or the Party Chair submitted a counterfeit ballot to the Lt Governor and she played along because again, it was in her best interest to do so. In either case, one is guilty and the other is stupid! Or together they conspired to violate the Party’s 1st and 14th Amendment rights. And as the governing body of the party, it is your duty to see that the rules are carried out accordingly. If laws were broken, you as a State Central Committee member have personal liability if it is not corrected. 
 
With respect to the SCC, each member is elected by their membership to represent the interests of their constituents. They have a duty, in business we call it a fiduciary duty. It means you have an obligation to act in the best interest of those you represent. The SCC has been properly noticed of this constitutional violation, and any inaction on their part is a violation of their fiduciary duty. Whether their negligence is civil or criminal, it is a gross dereliction of their duty to withhold the proper exercise of their responsibility, to see that the Party’s laws are faithfully executed!

​By BillyO

​Below find the Actual Notice of Intent to File a Claim with appropriate citations...

For years in Utah, democrats have joined the Republican Party in order to get elected. This is possible because the UTGOP has been complacent in allowing membership in the Party simply by declaring it so. While this created challenges for voters to understand who the real Republican is, the Caucus/Convention system provided the locally elected delegates the final say in who indeed could represent the Party on the primary or general election ballot. In most cases, Democrats who declared themselves Republicans found out they could not pass the scrutiny of the well-informed delegates. So, they had to change the rules and provide an alternate path to the Republican ballot in order to get elected...Meet Count My Vote! 

According to SB54, “whenever there is at least one candidate chosen by convention and at least one who gained candidacy for the same office by collecting signatures, a qualified political party must participate in a primary election to choose between them.” If a party’s only candidates for an office are chosen at its convention, the party “is not required to participate in the primary election for that office.” For qualified political parties then, the requirement to participate in the primary only exists when the signature-gathering path to nomination is used by “declared republican” candidates outside of the Convention process. “A State cannot substitute its judgment for that of the party as to the desirability of a particular internal party structure.” The Party is a private constitutionally protected institution.
 
When a qualified political party only has candidates who emerged from its convention, the law does not require the party to participate in a primary. If Party members want a signature-gathering route to nomination outside the convention process, they can surely rally for that change to the Party’s bylaws, and if a cabal tried but failed to truly shut out the voices of ordinary members, they are free to quit, to form a new party, or to cast their votes elsewhere. It is none of the state’s business.