Utah GOP push to repeal anti-gerrymander law falters amid fraud allegations tied to firm backed by Trump Jr.

A Trump-backed, GOP effort to repeal a Utah law that could give Democrats one extra U.S. House seat appears to be unraveling after county officials flagged thousands of potentially invalid and fraudulent petition signatures.

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.

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.

“RINO judges & liberal groups are trying to STEAL two GOP house seats in Utah. You can stop it!” Trump Jr. posted on social media last year, prompting followers to become signature gatherers for Patriot Grassroots. 

The repeal effort has also drawn direct intervention from President Donald Trump, who has called on GOP-led states to redraw their maps mid-decade to maintain control of the U.S. House. The court ruling leading to creation of a new Democratic-leaning district was widely seen as a direct blow to his nationwide gerrymander push.

Trump publicly urged Utah voters to sign the repeal petition as the campaign struggled to gather enough valid signatures.

“The Great State of Utah, a place I love and WON BIG in 2016, 2020, and 2024, sent four terrific Republicans to Congress, and we want to keep it that way! A very important effort is underway in Utah to repeal Proposition 4, make Map Drawing accountable to Utah Voters, stop Radical Leftist Judges, and KEEP UTAH RED.” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform last month. “Utahns deserve Maps drawn by those they elect, not Rogue Judges or Leftwing Activists who never faced the Voters, and, therefore, I encourage all Patriotic Utahns, Republicans, and MAGA Supporters who love their Great State and Country to sign this initiative, ASAP. You must sign by February 15th!”

In 2018, Utah voters passed Proposition 4, a ballot initiative which created an independent redistricting commission and set standards aimed at limiting partisan gerrymandering. The GOP-backed drive to repeal the initiative has struggled for weeks to meet the state’s steep signature requirements to be placed on the November ballot, and is widely expected to fail by the deadline Sunday.

That struggle has now been compounded by allegations of widespread fraud in the campaign’s signature-gathering operation.

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. 

“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.”

Davidson emphasized that while clerks often simply record signatures as valid or invalid, many of the rejected entries showed clear signs of intentional fabrication.

His office contacted voters whose names appeared on the petitions, he said, and many either denied signing or reported their names were used more than once.

“You’d be surprised at how many mistakes the forgeries have,” Davidson added.

The repeal campaign is run by Utahns for Representative Government, led by Utah Republican Party Chair Rob Axson. 

Axson acknowledged the irregularities but sought to limit responsibility, saying the group identified and removed problematic workers, and asked officials to investigate.

“They were immediately fired, and we flagged that we believed that those signatures were likely fraudulent. We flagged it for the clerk and asked him to look specifically at (packets submitted) by those people and we encouraged him to do the investigation and prosecute those people,” Axson said. “We’ve been clear with both volunteers and paid staff that there is zero interest and zero tolerance for anybody doing anything except for being honest and following the rules and the law and respecting the people of Utah. We don’t want to cut corners or anything.”

Even before accounting for rejected, withdrawn or potentially fraudulent signatures, the repeal campaign has fallen far short of the numbers required to qualify for the ballot. As of early February, county clerks had verified 76,079 signatures statewide — just 54% of the total required — leaving the campaign roughly 64,600 signatures short days before the deadline.

To qualify in time, the campaign would need to collect and verify more than 7,000 signatures per day in its final stretch — a pace election experts say is unrealistic.

As a result of the growing controversy, the GOP ended its partnership with Patriot Grassroots, the out-of-state firm hired to manage the campaign’s signature gathering. The firm had been central to the campaign’s ground operation and had already drawn scrutiny over reports from workers who said they were misled about the work or left unpaid.

Patriot Grassroots has also faced multiple allegations of deceiving voters while collecting signatures in Utah. 

Election officials confirmed receiving complaints that some paid petitioners failed to provide copies of the initiative text or made deceptive pitches about what the petition would do — practices that violate Utah law governing signature gathering. Opponents of the repeal, including Better Boundaries, have cited “numerous direct reports from Utah residents” who said they were not fully informed about the petition they signed, prompting a campaign to help voters withdraw their signatures.

Patriot Grassroots’ involvement has drawn attention beyond Utah. 

The firm has also received approximately $2.9 million from GOP-aligned groups in Missouri, where it worked to oppose a voter referendum seeking to overturn a mid-decade, Trump-backed congressional gerrymander.

Republicans intensified their push to undo Prop 4 after courts relied on it to compel changes to Utah’s current congressional map, including the creation of a Democratic-leaning district. This change could give Democrats one more seat in the U.S. House in the 2026 midterm elections. 

With the deadline looming and tens of thousands of signatures still needed — before accounting for rejections and withdrawals — the GOP’s Prop 4 repeal drive seems unlikely to qualify for the November ballot. The campaign’s collapse would mark a significant setback for Republicans seeking to roll back one of Utah voters’ most prominent pro-democracy reforms.