The Libertarian Party of Utah announced a winner in their Fair Representation Challenge this week, and it’s not the Republican Party.

The Libertarians concluded that the Utah Republican Party is the incumbent party that has done the least of the parties since last August (2005) to make elections in Utah more competitive and representative, and was therefore the loser of their challenge.

The Libertarian Party of Utah extended the challenge to the Utah Senate and House of Representatives, the chairmen of Utah’s Democratic and Republican Parties and the student body presidents of Utah colleges and universities. The challenge was issued via mail and e-mail.

This decision means that Utah’s Republican candidates in swing districts will receive more attention from Libertarian candidates in upcoming elections, according to a news release from the Libertarian Party of Utah.

Rob Latham, the party’s state chairman, said Libertarian candidates in swing districts will be encouraged to pitch their ideas to Republican voters. History has shown that Libertarian candidates who do so have generally been successful in ensuring that Republican candidates lose elections, Latham said.

Latham pointed out that his party’s focus on taking votes from Republicans doesn’t take the heat off of Democrats.

“Republican legislators did more to lose the Fair Representation Challenge than Democratic legislators did to win,” he said in a press release. “They are pitiful, and Democratic incumbents and candidates will not be left alone in uncompetitive districts.

Latham said his party is pushing to move Utah away from its current winner-take-all voting system to a proportional representation system. He said this change would still allow the majority to be in control while giving the minority more of a voice than they have now.

“Right now 51 percent of the vote means 100 percent of the power,” he said.

James Evans, chair of the Salt Lake County Republican Party, said he was a little confused about the philosophy of the Libertarian Party and said he wondered if their philosophy had changed to throw more support to Democratic candidates.

Evans said he doesn’t believe the Libertarians will have much success in trying to sway Republican voters.

“They should recognize their political philosophy just isn’t taking root,” he said. “The voters are just not buying what they are selling.”

Latham said Utah Republican candidates are over-represented and Democratic candidates under-represented. He said the reason for this is that Utah Republicans use gerrymandering to redraw voting districts.

“They’re getting an unfair advantage based on how they’ve drawn the districts,” he said.

Currently no states in the nation use a proportional representation system, but some cities have moved to this system, Latham said. Cambridge, Mass., he said, uses proportional representation to elect city council representatives.

The loss of the challenge is a benefit to the Libertarian Party of Utah because it shows Republicans that there will be a political cost for rigging elections, Latham said.

Latham said he encourages Utah’s voters to contact their representatives and candidates and ask them what they are doing to make elections more representative.

“We’re trying to encourage Utahns to demand more competitive and representative elections in Utah,” he said. “Utah voters are being cheated out of fair elections.”

(For comments, e-mail Adam Denison at adamdenison@byu.edu)

Copyright Brigham Young University 10 Mar 2006