The Utah Foundation has just published a study of Utah’s unique primary system. Utah is the only state in which no one can get on a primary ballot for any non-presidential office unless the candidate has high support at a party nominating convention first. In Utah, if a candidate (for office other than President) doesn’t get at least 40% of the votes at the party’s pre-primary nominating convention, he or she can’t run in that party’s primary. See the Utah Foundation’s press release here. The press release has a link to the study. The Utah Foundation recommends that Utah provide easier access for candidates to run in party primaries.

Connecticut once had a system very similar to Utah’s current system, but a U.S. District Court declared it unconstitutional in Campbell v Bysiewicz, 242 F.Supp. 2d 164, in 2003. However, given the 2008 U.S. Supreme Court decision New York State Board of Elections v Lopez Torres, it is obvious that the Connecticut decision is no longer good law, and a lawsuit against the Utah system would not succeed, unless it was filed by a political party as applied to that party’s own nominating process.