After flag referendum fails, group turns to Utah GOP for support

SALT LAKE CITY, UT — Now that a referendum to repeal Utah’s new state flag has failed to force a vote, the group’s organizers are pushing for the Republican Party to take action. 

At next Saturday’s GOP state convention, delegates will vote on whether to “firmly support” the blue state flag as “the official state flag in perpetuity.” The resolution also calls for the party to “continue to display” the old state flag at party events and functions.  

RESOLVED, in honor of our forebears, the Utah Republican Party firmly supports the historic Utah flag remaining the official state flag in perpetuity;

RESOLVED, the Utah Republican Party will continue to display the historic Utah flag at all Party functions and events.

One of the referendum group’s organizers, Chad Saunders, said the GOP will vote to “only recognize the Utah state flag.”

“Do not call it the historical flag, do not call the other one the new flag,” Saunders said sternly. “It’s not technically the new flag until March 9, 2024.”

The group fell quite short of the needed 134,298 signatures to put the issue on the ballot by at least 80-thousand signatures.

#BREAKING An effort to try and repeal the new state flag has FAILED to get enough signatures to be put on the ballot.

Signature numbers:

134,298 needed (and 8% of active voters in 15 of 29 counties)
21,030 valid signatures
2,117 rejected
28,449 weren’t counted cuz no need

— Lindsay Aerts (@LindsayOnAir) April 13, 2023

Saunders expressed frustration with the Lt. Governor’s office and their tallying. 

“They stopped counting because they do not want this to pass,” he alleged.  

He also said his group is continuing to work with legislators, “to craft new better defining legislation based on what we’re hearing from the citizenry.”

Related reading

• Economic committee hears from public on changing the Utah Flag
• New state flag referendum group ‘confident’ despite low signatures

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