MY 2024 REPUBLICAN PARTY STATE CONVENTION REPORT

ONE FOR ALL...ALL FOR ONE! 
The Utah Republican Party State Convention: Saturday, April 27, 2024 
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My Convention Report 
Bill Olson NOG12 
Weber County 
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​After spending an hour and a half in line to register as a delegate, I entered the convention hall to find a seat. The hall was full of delegates of which almost half raised their hands as first-time delegates. Shortly after the prayer, pledge of allegiance, approval of the rules and the agenda we got started. I was standing at the microphone waiting for my turn as a delegate to gain the floor as a member of our deliberative assembly represented by all 29 counties in Utah.

As a deliberative assembly, our state delegates meet at our state convention to determine, in full and free discussion, the election of our state candidates and courses of action to be taken by our Party. To hold more efficient meetings and respect the opinion of each member, we adhere to the rules of parliamentary procedure. We are there to exhaust all debate before any vote is taken or decisions are made. Debate cannot be exhausted if it is restrained and that is what happened here today.  

Prior to the Convention there were many of us delegates concerned about the direction of the Party and its leadership. Since the success of SB 54 our caucus/convention system has been essentially neutered. This unconstitutional legislation forced on the Party by big money interests has created a path to getting their candidates elected without the hassle of delegate scrutiny or Party endorsement.  

With the deterioration of election integrity over the last few election cycles, many in the Party have related concerns about the method of elections at our Convention. The State Central Committee (SCC) is the Policy making body of the Party. Members are elected by every county; these committee members operate as the legislative branch of the Party with the responsibility of governing the Party as a deliberative assembly. That means they make the rules by majority or in some cases a super majority using Roberts Rules of Order. Roberts Rules allows for the majority to rule while acknowledging the rights of the minority.  Under these rules, the SCC determines how the Party business is conducted.  

Prior to our Convention there was concern by many delegates and members of the Party that Leadership, the executive branch of the Party, tasked with executing the will of the governing body, was scheming to use an electronic voting system rather than paper ballots as decided by the SCC.  

It seems there are members of the Party with commercial interests in promoting their electronic voting services (https://www.innogov.io/) who have achieved leadership positions in certain Convention Committees, the very committees who are tasked with executing the policies of the SCC. According to our Republican Party Constitution, these committees are “recommending bodies only.” So why then do they make decisions in direct opposition to the SCC?  

When it was discovered by a few of us that for this convention, Party leadership had no intention of securing election integrity by executing on the SCC’s call for Paper Ballots, many state delegates objected. Several months before the convention, we pushed the Party to play by the rules and a petition was generated and signed by over 400 state delegates in less than 10 days directing Party leadership to use paper ballots as determined by the SCC.
(https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1lkzSmiEl8OFwTSO8aVSWjtkqjeMBvcfb5OYMBiI4B-o/edit#gid=841220358).

To “protect the vote” Paper Ballots are also recommended by the Republican National Committee (RNC).
 
“The Republican National Committee boldly opposes means of voting that do not have the proper safeguards in place and are exclusively electronic and calls on every county and state in the nation to use as the default ballot systems, which are fully auditable, namely hand-marked, voter-verified paper ballots to ensure every voter is memorialized by a paper record;” 

Electronic voting is not secure and personal information is at risk. 
 
Once exposed, leadership, rather than follow the directive from the SCC to use paper ballots, moved away from the conflict of interest using certain committee members commercial product, to another electronic voting system called Election Buddy (in the ironies of ironies, even Election Buddy supports Paper Ballots (https://ripl.se/uB). This voting system uses an application that allows you to scan with your phone to vote. The problem is this scan allows for the service to capture the data on your phone and according to their Privacy Policy, use it as directed by the UTGOP for their own commercial benefit (https://electionbuddy.com/privacy-policy/).  Have you ever looked at a website on your phone and several days later you walk by a service similar to the one you were looking at and just like that, their ad appears on your phone? Party leadership has a special purpose in infiltrating your phone...they want to use technology to profile you and make money from the profile information gathered without your active knowledge.  

On the agenda was also an amendment to change the current public record requirement in our Constitution that provides “at a minimum, the name address and phone number” of all party elected positions and instead the amendment seeks to redact all contact information except your name. Should this pass, our Weber County Conservatives patriot training will cease! All data will be controlled by the Party and sold or provided only to those the Party chooses. Couple this with their retrieval of all your personal information on your phone and they will control it all and you will have nothing.  

Back to the microphone where I was waiting patiently. As the Elections Committee Chairman took the podium to start the process of forcing the delegates to use their electronic voting service, I called out a Point of Order. Once I was acknowledged by the Chair, I HAD THE FLOOR WHICH MEANS I CANNOT BE INTERRUPTED! A Point of Order is a parliamentarian move that can interrupt the speaker…it is used if a member feels the rules are not being followed. It requires the chair to make a ruling and enforce the rules. If he makes a ruling, you do not think is fair, you may challenge the ruling of the Chair and let the delegates decide by a vote. The delegates have the power...unless they give it up to the Chair...which is what they did here at convention. 

Because the body of the deliberative assembly (delegates) has the power, and the Chair is merely a facilitator of the assembly (he doesn’t’ even get to vote unless to make or break a tie). The delegates make all decisions. The Chair is there to share opinions, but any ruling of the Chair can be challenged. Once challenged, the delegates get to vote as to whether the Chair decision is overruled. Receiving much applause, my Point of Order asked a simple question... by what authority does the Elections Committee, a recommending body only, have to overrule the SCC, the governing body of the Party and foist this electronic voting on the delegates?  

The Chair ignored my Point of Order, a violation of Roberts Rules, and said he would get to it later, allowing the Committee Chairman to continue to instruct the delegates on how to use the electronic voting system. The Parliamentarian, there to assist both the Chair and the delegates to properly follow our rules, was silent (a violation of her own certification ethics). My persistence in having my Point of Order properly dealt with resulted in the Chair claiming he was not bound by the SCC vote to use paper ballots and proceeded to sit down. While asking the Chair if this was his decision, my microphone was turned off! I had every right as a privileged member of the assembly to challenge the ruling of the Chair and let the delegates decide whether we followed the SCC or allow a recommending body only to dictate how the elections were to be conducted. Done properly, this issue could have been dealt with in a few short minutes with the delegates deciding whether to ignore their own rules or not. 

Without sound, I stood there waving the microphone to get the attention of the parliamentarian and the Chair to acknowledge my rights as a delegate to speak. After all, I HAD THE FLOOR!  Being completely ignored by the Chair...I dropped the microphone to the ground and promptly left the convention embarrassed for the delegates who do not understand their role in this process and angry at Party leadership for exploiting their ignorance. 

For the last two years, Weber County Conservatives has offered training for all elected positions in the Party including delegates to understand their roles and responsibilities. Disrespecting the rights of one delegate is disrespecting the rights of all delegates. The delegates’ silence, as my rights were trampled on, only adds gasoline to the fire of the tyranny in our government and our Party. 
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This behavior by the Party leadership begs the question, who is in charge? Why are the rights of the assembly and the delegates involved not respected in order to conduct our convention procedures? The Party leadership’s inability to follow our governing rules is unacceptable and outrageous! Will you, as a member of the assembly, do anything about it? ​