- Do you support or oppose the Independent Redistricting Commission and Standards Act that Utah voters approved in 2018? Please explain your reasoning.
- Support. Gerrymandering is a fundamental issue with our current political system, regardless of political party, and harms fair representation for all voters. Voters pick their representatives, not the other way around.
- What should happen when the legislature disagrees with a map the commission produces, and what would you do in that situation?
- I am running for federal office, so my direct involvement would be publicly supporting the work of the commission, and encouraging citizens to do the same, as long as the commission properly followed the legal guidelines to create a new map.
- Do you support Utah's vote-by-mail system as it stands?
- Yes.
- What would you do to encourage more people to vote who currently don't vote?
- Public conversations about the impact of voters are an easy place to start (the work of BURRN for example, but also recent primary results and other citizen led work) to show that getting involved really does change things, but I would also advocate for voting system reforms that encourage more participation. This includes rank choice (or something similar) for all state and federal races.
- Utah voters can put questions on the ballot through citizen initiatives and referenda. Should the threshold for passing them be changed? Why or why not?
- No. Direct citizen engagement is one of the last semi-effective tools citizens have to check the power of an unresponsive super majority legislature. Increasing the barriers to such efforts is inherently undemocratic and runs counter to the spirit and letter of our state's constitution.
- What do you see as the relationship between transparency and corruption?
- Increased transparency results in decreased corruption. I am in favor of increased transparency wherever possible.
- Does Utah's GRAMA support the public's right to know, or does it need strengthening? Or is it too stringent?
- This is honestly not an issue I am well enough informed on to give a definitive answer. I think GRAMA requests are a necessary tool to ensure public accountability, but I don't know enough about the specific implementation challenges to say if it working the way we need it to.
- Describe a specific action you would take in office to make sure every person in your district has equal access to government services and equal protection under the law, regardless of citizenship status.
- I would push for the requirement to use bench warrants, not administrative warrants, for any immigration enforcement activities. Bench warrants help ensure the even application of the law, while administrative warrants allow an agency to pursue policy in outside of the existing legal framework.
- Is there anything else you think is relevant that our questions did not reach?
- I deeply appreciate the work of BURRN. Not only because of the issue you focused on, but because your example has inspired hundreds of Utahns to get involved. Thank you for helping to ignite and then feed the spark of citizen engagement in our state.
