Voting 101: A guide to the 2018 election

October 10, 2018
This week, Timpview Journalism will be encouraging the Juniors and Seniors to register to vote. People are often turned off by the idea of voting because they believe nothing will change, and they can’t see how their vote would matter in the grand scheme of things. To dissuade you from those beliefs, here is a guide for all the issues that citizens of Provo will be voting on on Tuesday November 6.
Propositions:
Definition: a piece of proposed legislation to be approved or rejected by eligible voters.
Non Binding Opinion Question #1: This question states, “To provide additional funding for public education and local roads, should the state increase the state motor and special fuel tax rates by an equivalent of 10 cents per gallon?” This would be giving the Utah Legislature information on the opinion of the people, and they would later vote on whether or not to propose a law.
Proposition #2: This asks whether or not a law should be made to expand the number of people who can access medical marijuana, and allow private facilities to legally produce and distribute marijuana. Under current Utah law, marijuana can only be grown, processed, or sold by the state.
Proposition #3: This asks whether or not a law should be made to expand the state Medicaid health coverage program. If enacted, this law would increase the state sales tax rate, and expand Medicaid to low-income adults who were previously not eligible.
Proposition #4: This asks whether or not a law should be made to create a commission that would recommend new voting districts for Congressional, legislative, and state school board districts. Those appointed would be required to be politically inactive.
Constitutional Amendments:
Amendments to Utah’s constitution
Amendment A: This proposes that those in the military would be exempt from property tax if their service is at least 200 days in a continuous 365-day period. Currently, the law states that this service has to be within one calendar year. So if someone served for 3 months at the end of the year and 4 months at the beginning of the year, they would not be exempt from property tax.
Amendment B: This proposes that any private owner that leases property to the government would be exempt from property tax. People who support this say that it simplifies tax policy, while critics say that this will result in a tax increase for other taxpayers in the state who do not lease property to the government.
Amendment C: This would authorize the state legislature to call for a special session outside of the regular 45-day general session. Currently, only the governor is authorized to call for a special session
City Bond
This city council decided to put the authorization of the Provo Police, Fire and City Facilities Bond, up to the voters in provo. The bond would equate to $69 million, and the money would be used to construct new buildings for provo’s police department, fire department, emergency dispatch, and other city departments. If voted through, the bond would increase property taxes.
- Next year, Provo is planning on proposing another School Bond, which would be used to rebuild Timpview and other elementary schools in Provo.
Elected Officials
US Senate (One seat in the senate is on the ballot because Orrin Hatch is retiring, Mike Lee is not up for reelection until 2022)
- Tim Aalders, Constitution party
- Craig R. Bowden, Libertarian party
- Reed C. McCandless, Independent American
- Jenny Wilson, Democratic party
- Mitt Romney, Republican party
US House of Representatives. (Provo is in Utah Congressional district 3)
- John Curtis (currently holds seat), Republican party
- James Courage Singer, Democratic party
- Timothy L. Zeidner, United Utah party
- Gregory C. Duerden, Independent American.
Utah State Senate (Provo is within districts 15, 16, and 7, and 15 is the only one on the ballot)
- Keith Grover (currently holds seat), Republican party
- Lee D. Houghton, United Utah party
- Tommy Williams, Independent American
Utah House of Representatives (Provo is within districts 48, 61, 63, and 64)
- District 48
Keven J. Stratton (currently holds seat), Republican party
Aaron Heineman, Independent American
- District 61
Eric Chase, United Utah
Marsha Judkins (currently holds seat), Republican party
Matt Styles, Green party
- District 63
Adam Robertson is running unopposed
- District 64
Norm Thurston (currently holds seat), Republican party
Daniel Craig Friend, Democratic party
Hal Miller, United Utah party
Utah State School Board
- Provo is in district 13, no one is up for reelection
Utah County Clerk/ Auditor (The county clerk is in charge of all of the records of the county)
- Jason Christensen, Independent American
- Amelia Powers, Republican party
Utah County Attorney (The chief legal officer for Utah County)
- David O. Leavitt, Republican party
- W. Andrew McCullough, Libertarian party
Utah County Commission Seat A (County commissioners are in charge of levying taxes, adopting ordinances, and making policy that affects Utah County)
- Tanner Ainge, Republican party
- Teri McCabe, United Utah party
Utah County Commissioner Seat B
- Jeanne Bowen, Democratic party
- Bill Lee, Republican party
County Sheriff
- Mike Smith is running unopposed
Provo School Board (There are 7 districts in provo, Districts 1, 2, 3, and 4 are up for election)
- 1: Nate Bryson is running unopposed
- 2: Melanie Hall, Paul R. Warner
- 3: McKay R. Jensen is running unopposed
- 4: Jennifer Partridge is running unopposed.
If you don’t live in Provo, you can go to vote.utah.gov for more information on your local elections.
https://elections.utah.gov/2018-election-information
https://www.provo.org/departments/city-recorder/elections
http://www.utahcounty.gov/Dept/ClerkAud/Elections/CandidateInfo2018.html
https://vote.utah.gov/vote/menu/index