SALT LAKE CITY — One group is tens of thousands of signatures away from reaching its goal to let Utahns decide over the state flag on the November ballot.
"It's not just a flag. It's about the people's voice and how we're not listened to," said Tracie Halverson with the Are You Listening Yet? political action committee.
The citizen ballot initiative has until Thursday, Feb. 15, to collect 134,000 signatures. As of Tuesday at 9 a.m., the Lieutenant Governor's Office reports only 80,180.
Halverson said their numbers are much different.
"We figure we have maybe between 110,000 and 115,000 right now," she said. "This last week there's been a huge push, so I'm not sure about those numbers."
This isn't the only attempt to bring back the old flag.
In April of last year, a referendum was filed that would leave it up to voters to decide whether they wanted the new flag or not. That failed to gather enough signatures.
This legislative session, Rep. Phil Lyman proposed a bill to repeal the new flag and that failed in committee last week.
There are only three more weeks until the new Utah state flag law goes into effect.
"Flags are important, too," said Halverson. "People die over flags. Symbols are important."
Now, the group is suing the lieutenant governor, claiming her office caused weeks of delays that cut into their 280-day window to gather signatures.
"We quickly learned county clerks do not have consistent understanding of the law and exercise at their discretion differently when verifying signatures," claimed Halverson.
She said the Feb. 15 deadline is "unconstitutional" and believes their cause should have the same treatment as Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
"Robert Kennedy filed a lawsuit and they agreed to extend it to June 15, but they refused to extend our deadline when we asked," said Halverson.
The group plans to keep gathering signatures even after Thursday's deadline.
