For too long, politicians have been essentially choosing their voters by rigging voting maps, and Utahns have paid the price. Rural needs have been lumped in with urban ones, suburban neighborhoods have been divided, and Utah lawmakers have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayer money trying to protect their own power.

That’s why, back in 2018, Utah voters passed Proposition 4 to end the manipulation of voting maps by politicians and ensure that every Utahn has a strong voice in their government. Proposition 4 created a set of rules that any voting maps needed to follow in order to be valid. In 2025, after a years-long legal battle, the judicial branch in Utah checked the legislature’s power and ruled that Utah’s current voting maps are illegal. A judge told them to go back to the drawing board to draft maps that follow the law that Utahns passed.

Lawmakers have a responsibility to make sure that the maps they draw are:

• Fair (Equal population, no gerrymandering)

• Functional (Maps that make sense geographically and follow natural boundaries)

• Focused (Keep cities/communities together, not divided)

Now, Senator Brammer has proposed a bill that would weaken protections against gerrymandering (rigging voting maps) by replacing the requirement for multiple tests of fairness on the maps with a single test.

Senator Brammer's bill rigs the game and ignores the will of the people. The people of Utah voted for Proposition 4 because it strengthened requirements for voting maps that prevent politicians from manipulating maps for their own gain. Proposing to rig the very test that judges whether maps are fair adds insult to injury and erodes trust.