MAGA effort to re-gerrymander red state in jeopardy as 'extensive fraud' alleged

In a huge blow to Utah Republicans and the GOP's efforts to hold the House majority in this year's elections, county officials have flagged thousands of invalid and potentially fraudulent signatures in a petition drive to repeal the state's anti-gerrymandering laws, left-leaning voting rights center Democracy Docket reported on Monday.

The signature drive is intended to greenlight a repeal of Proposition 4, a 2018 voter-approved initiative which requires Utah's congressional maps to follow certain fairness and compactness criteria. GOP lawmakers brazenly ignored these rules when drawing the state's new map in 2021, carving up Salt Lake City into multiple pieces to ensure all four seats would be held by Republicans.

But a series of judicial rulings found this illegal and adopted a remedial map where one of the four districts is based wholly in Salt Lake City and favors Democrats.

Since then, Utah Republicans have waged a war on multiple fronts, including threats to impeach the state judges involved in the decision and a move to pack the state Supreme Court. But they are also pushing a signature drive to repeal Proposition 4 outright — and that's the plan that is now running into problems.

"The GOP’s repeal campaign relied on Patriot Grassroots, a Wyoming-based petition firm paid more than $4.3 million to manage signature gathering in Utah. The firm’s contract was terminated as allegations of fraud and misleading practices mounted," said the Democracy Docket report. "Patriot Grassroots’ work has been promoted by right-wing figures including Donald Trump Jr. and anti-voting activist Scott Presler, though no direct business relationships have been disclosed."

"Utah County Clerk Aaron Davidson, a Republican, said his office identified hundreds of suspect signatures in packets tied to the repeal effort and referred 27 packets to the county attorney for criminal investigation. Each packet contains about 50 signatures," said the report. "'This is probably the most extensive fraud that we’ve seen,' Davidson told a local Fox News outlet. 'They’re not just fraudulent signatures. [It’s] making up names and addresses. It’s like a non-existent person.'"

This comes after another report found multiple allegations that staffers behind the signature collection effort lied to college students around Utah, pretending the signatures were for something other than repealing Proposition, and leaving many feeling they were tricked into contributing their signature against their will.