Hello John ,

On Wednesday last week, the Utah Legislature held one last committee hearing on their five proposed congressional maps for the 2026 election. Now, it’s your turn to leave public comment.

In 2018, Utahns passed the ballot initiative Proposition 4 which sought to end gerrymandering in Utah. The two goals of the initiative were to make sure voters choose their politicians, not the other way around, and to keep communities with similar interests together. Despite the Legislature’s many attempts to get around this mandate, Utah’s state courts have upheld that the legislature must abide by the will of the people. Here's the current timeline:

September 25: The Legislature published their proposed maps online.
September 26 - October 5: The public has 10 days to leave comments on the five proposed maps (links below).
October 6: The Legislative Redistricting Commission will choose one map to which the Legislature will pass in a special session.

Here’s what you can do next: Submit public comment on one or all of the legislature’s five proposed congressional maps linked below (Options A through E). Remember to:

Check if your community is kept together - your community can be defined by schools, shopping, worship, work, and more. You can use this helpful guide from Better Boundaries to review the criteria of Proposition 4.
Explain how the current proposed maps split your community, and why keeping communities together matters to you.
Share the maps with neighbors - make it personal and local.

During the special session on Monday, October 6th, legislators will also be considering a bill sponsored by Sen. Brady Brammer which is the latest attempt to bypass the fair standards set out by Proposition 4. Sen. Brammer’s bill, titled "Redistricting Standards" will allow the legislature to use an obscure “partisan bias test” to check if the maps created by the legislature unduly favor any political party.

Here’s what you need to know about this test:

It was created to be used in battleground states with a near 50-50 partisan split. The creator of the test said it should not be used in lopsided majority-minority party states like Utah.
The legislature’s redistricting expert said that the old congressional map that is a textbook gerrymander case for splitting Salt Lake County into four districts – a map which was thrown out by the Utah Supreme Court – would have passed this test.

You can take action by asking your legislators to vote against Sen. Brammer’s “Redistricting Standards” bill.

Email Your Legislators

Utahns want fair maps and fair representation, without statistical tricks that dilute the power of both Salt Lake County and rural voters. This matters to us because in 2026, Utahns could finally be able to vote for leaders who:

Champion clean air and policies that protect us from pollution
Safeguard Utah’s water resources for our families and future generations
Fight for clean energy that will be affordable and reliable
Defend our public lands that define our way of life
Protect our democracy and vote-by-mail to give people a voice in government

When communities are kept whole, voters can work together to choose a representative who is best for them and the issues they care about. The problems facing air quality, water scarcity, energy security, public lands, and our democracy won’t wait. It’s time Utahns finally get the maps they deserve.

Onward!

Nat Williams

Democracy Policy Associate

[email protected]

www.stewardshiputah.org

Stewardship Utah
68 E 2700 S
South Salt Lake City, UT 84115
United States

If you believe you received this message in error or wish to no longer receive email from us, please unsubscribe.