All sides in the lawsuit Utah Republican Party v Herbert have agreed that Greg Bell should be the mediator, to try to settle the lawsuit. One issue in the lawsuit is whether the state can force the Republican and Constitution Parties to let people onto their primary ballots even if those candidates have not shown any support at a party endorsements convention. The other issue is whether the state can force those two parties to let independent voters vote in their primaries.
It is unusual for a political party freedom of association lawsuit to go to arbitration. See this story.
So if I’m paying tax dollars for their primary, they don’t want my vote unless I join the party? If tax payers are footing the bill, then I’d say everyone should be allowed to vote in any primary they wish. Just end the primary system and eliminate the problem.
As many people realized, the intent of SB54 was to enable the elite of the Republican Party to thwart the wishes of those who attended the caucuses, the county conventions and the state conventions. They are unhappy that Mike Lee is the US Senator from Utah and would like to see him ousted. They have never forgiven him for his defeat of Senator Bennett. In effect the party bosses could simply gather signatures and get someone on the ballot who did not even represent the ideals of a given party or who was not even a member of that party. This could be totally destructive to smaller parties and the judge in the case could readily see that. It would totally destroy the right of association guaranteed by the Constitution.
When the bill was hurriedly passed, it was clear that third party interests were never considered. The Constitution Party had little choice but to file a law suite in this case. By allowing the party to allow or disallow Independent or other voters to vote in their primary, the party could at least avoid being taken over by outside interests. Having said that, I agree that tax payers should not have to pay for the primaries, but that is another issue. The parties themselves should foot the bill.