After serving for six years in the Utah Legislature, Rep. Stephen Sandstrom, R-Orem, has turned in his letter of resignation. His midterm departure from the 58th district in Utah County comes after the House’s session ended. Thus the break in the action gives them time to find a replacement for Sandstrom’s spot.

Rep. Christopher Herrod said, “We won’t have meetings until the third Wednesday in May. So most likely they’ll have full representation and they won’t even notice they weren’t represented.”

Utah law says if there’s a midterm vacancy, the party that controlled the seat will nominate a new representative. With Sandstrom being a Republican representative, this means their party is responsible to find a nominee.

“All the county delegates within the old boundaries will get together and anybody who wants to be interested in doing so can file to run for that office”, said Rep. Bradley Daw. “The delegates will select who they believe should fulfill that office.”

Rep. Herrod went on to say, “They’ll choose and whoever has the majority of those delegates will be appointed by the governor to serve up until December 31st.”

Governor Gary Herbert will finalize the process by appointing the nominee as the new representative. Sandstrom’s resignation won’t be completed until the State House receives a letter of resignation from him. Once that occurs the newly elected leader will fill Sandstrom’s seat for the rest of his term, which concludes at the end of the year.

In 2011 the Legislature redrew district boundaries throughout the state. Sandstrom’s district will dissolve into other Utah county districts at the end of the year. This means whoever replaces Sandstrom can stay in the Legislature only if voters re-elect them in one of the new districts.

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Kory Aldous

Latest posts by Kory Aldous (Posts)

• Psychiatrists Salaries at the Utah State Hospital. - April 10, 2012
• Sandstrom resigns from Legislature. - April 3, 2012
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