LOGAN — Former tribal leader and a former chairman of the Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation, Darren Parry, was a part of the group Better Boundaries and the long-running campaign to collect signatures to get an initiative on the Utah ballot a few years ago creating an independent redistricting commission.
But during an emergency Utah legislative session last week, lawmakers approved a second ballot question to amend the Utah Constitution.
Now, Utah voters will decide if the Constitution should say that the legislature can amend or repeal citizen-led initiatives.
On KVNU’s For the People program on Tuesday, Parry said this is a continuation of what the legislature has been trying to accomplish in accumulating more power.
“It just gives the people the last say, I mean, the very last say. Over the last few years, the legislature’s made it harder to get those ballot initiatives on the ballot. So, they’re doing everything they can to kind of silence the vote anyway, and make it hard to do this.
“But I think it still needs to be an option, it needs to be the last line of defense for all of us to stand up to some things that we don’t always agree with,” he explained.
The former Utah House candidate said he had a minor role in the Better Boundaries initiative.
“But I really understand it, I mean we’re just looking at it as, when there’s a super majority, they can draw up boundaries and districts to make it hard for some people to be represented. They can divide up Salt Lake County into five different sections, when in reality, if they didn’t, you’d probably have a Democratic senator or congressman from that area.”
Parry said he can’t imagine the legislative-sponsored ballot question will pass, at least he hopes not. He hopes Utahns will get themselves educated on it.