Utah Legislative Alert 3/22/02

The Future of Your Right to Keep And Bear Arms Depends on You Getting Politically Active on March 25

Still smarting from the defeat of their gun-grabbing agenda in this year’s session of the Utah Legislature, anti-gun advocates and the news media have shifted their focus to this year’s all-important elections. Without a doubt, Election Year 2002 will be the most pivotal in recent years and will determine whether freedom-loving friends or gun control foes will run the Utah Legislature and the U.S. Congress.

It is critical that law-abiding gun owners build on our recent legislative successes, and turn our efforts towards electing pro-gun candidates to public office. How can YOU make sure that pro-gun majorities are maintained in Salt Lake City and in Washington, DC? For starters YOU, your family, friends, and fellow gun owners can attend the Precinct Caucus for the party of your choice on Monday, March 25, at 7:00 p.m.

At these meetings, YOU can get elected as a delegate to your county and/or state party conventions where candidates for elected office are chosen. As a delegate, YOU can help ensure that pro-gun candidates appear on the election ballot and vie for a chance to represent YOU and your interests.

How do you get elected as a delegate? Just follow these simple steps:

What To Do Before Your Party Precinct Caucus

Decide which party meeting to attend. Anyone 18 or older as of November 5, 2002, who is a resident of the voting district is eligible to be a delegate. Decide which party’s meeting to attend based on where your vote will have the most effect.

• Call your county clerk’s office to find your voting district number, boundaries and location of your party precinct caucus. If a party precinct caucus hasn’t been scheduled, volunteer to host such an event.

A list of county clerks’ telephone numbers is enclosed.

Make a list of the names of family, friends and fellow gun owners in your district who might also attend the party caucus and vote for you

. Call, visit and firmly ask them for their support. Tell those willing to support you the time and location of the meeting. You only need about 10-15 votes to win a delegate position.

Call all your supporters before the meeting and remind them to attend

. Plan to have one person nominate you and another to second the motion. (Have yet another ready to duck out of the meeting and call your supporters who don’t show up to remind them to attend.)

What To Do When You Get To The Precinct Caucus

1. Count your supporters who are present. If you do not have more than enough supporters to get elected, ask your trusted standby caller to quickly telephone anyone absent and get them to attend.

2. Insist on the full amount of time for balloting. Do not withdraw your candidacy to speed things along or to be polite. Election laws state that balloting must continue for at least one full hour from the time the meeting opens. Often someone will suggest that, in the interest of time, the previous election-year’s delegate be chosen. Your sole purpose of being there is to get yourself elected so be sure to hang in there and fight to get that delegate seat!

3. Many districts elect more than one delegate. If your district does so, be sure your supporters are running as delegates as well (if only one delegate is chosen in your area, make sure other pro-gunners decline the nomination so that your vote is not split, thereby allowing for an anti-gun delegate to be elected!).

4. Do Not commit your vote to any candidate until NRA- ILA and USSC review his or her position on our issue. If elected as a delegate, you can expect pressure from candidates who want you to commit your vote to them.

5. List the names of delegates elected on the enclosed postcard and indicate whether they are pro-gun or anti-gun. It is important to mail this postcard the very next day to the NRA-ILA’s California Office. Be sure and thank your supporters, and we’ll see you at the conventions!

Register to Vote In the Primary and General Elections

Any U.S. Citizen turning 18 on or before Election Day who has lived in Utah for 30 days prior to the election is eligible to vote. State Party conventions will be held on May 6. If you are selected to be a delegate to the State Republican convention, you must be registered to vote as a Republican by this date. If you are a delegate to the State Democratic convention, you don’t need to be registered to vote, although it is highly encouraged.

If candidates do not receive 60% or more of the vote at their party’s convention, they will then be placed on the June 25 primary ballot. The voter registration deadline to participate in this primary is June 5. The general election is November 5. The general election voter registration deadline is October 16.

If you are not registered to vote, please do so immediately by contacting your county clerk. If you are already registered to vote, please get a family member, friend or fellow gun owner who is not registered to register today. You may register in person at any county clerk’s office or by mail at any post office, library or through the DMV. Upon completing this process, you should receive a voter registration card in the mail stating your district number and other information within two weeks of registering. If you do not, call your county clerk to verify that you are, in fact, registered.

Remember, you need not be registered with a political party to vote in a caucus, primary or general election in Utah, only the State Republican convention. Additionally, you must register or re-register to vote if you fit into one of the following categories:

• you did not vote in the last presidential election (2000)
  
• you have changed addresses or moved
  (Utah law prohibits voting in your old district if you have moved)
  
• you have changed your legal name since the last election
  
• you have turned 18 since the last election

If you need an absentee ballot, contact your county clerk several weeks before the election(s). Allow time for the return and processing of the ballot. If you are handicapped or homebound, you may apply for permanent absentee voter status through the clerk’s office.

Get Involved today to Protect Your Rights.

Don’t Count on Others to do it for You!

For more information, contact your county clerk, NRA-ILA’s Grassroots Division at 1-800-392-Vote, the Utah Shooting Sports Council (USSC) at (801) 566-9017, or one of these NRA-ILA Election Volunteer Coordinators (EVCs): Ogden, Neil Sagers, (801) 786-1433, e-mail: neilsagers@uswest.net ;Sandy, David Sagers, (801) 339-1488, e-mail: dsagers@ci.westvalley.ut.us;Provo, Don Larsen, (801) 489-4186.