It's tough for Utah political leaders to associate democracy with petitions. We understand -- they've spent so many years and crafted so many dense rules with the sole purpose of making it as difficult as possible to use the petition process to practice grassroots democracy.
However, the latest "rules" devised by the Utah lieutenant governor's office to allow -- on an interim basis -- the use of electronic signatures for petitions to qualify a referendum or initiative for the Utah ballot are more cynical than clumsy.
Utah Lt. Gov. Greg Bell's guidelines allow for e-signatures only if there is a witness in the same room, hovering over the e-petition signer's computer. The guidelines read in part: "The person electronically signing the petition shall have done so in the circulator's presence."
That is ridiculous. Online petition gathering is designed for home or office access. It's farcial to assume that a "circulator" is going to be in the home or office of someone signing a petition. In essence, the new rules make gathering e-petitions the same as going to a supermarket, library, or some other brick and mortar location to gather signatures. No convenience or relief is provided to the petitions gatherers, and that was the whole idea of e-signatures being allowed -- to use security and technology advances to make it easier for the public, you and I, to effect change.
We agree with ethics in government advocate Kim Burningham, who stated the obvious regarding the lieutenant governor's guidelines. He said, "(Forcing the online signer to have a witness in the room) ... makes it extremely difficult to accept e-signatures."
We understand that the Utah Legislature's leadership does want to make it very difficult to accept any petition signature, be it in writing or via the Web. The majority party in Utah doesn't like the body public to intrude into what it regards as its sole business.
But we are disappointed in Bell. Our lieutenant governor has shown in the past an independent streak. He knows better than to unveil rules on e-signatures that effectively negate any chance of having e-signatures. It's very disingenous.
The Utah Supreme Court recently made it clear to Utah's political establishment that e-signatures will be acceptable. It's too bad our pols can't accept that reality.
This topic is being discussed at The Weber County Forum.
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