This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2004, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Utahns approved Amendment 3 by a predictably wide margin Tuesday.
At the same time, the vote on Utah's constitutional amendment defining traditional marriage as the legal union between a man and a woman was closer than results in several other states with similar measures on the ballot.
Yes on 3 Co-Chairman Monte Stewart said he believes Tuesday's vote is proof Utahns consider preserving traditional marriage a "core value."
"Utahns have an instinctive feeling for the role of the importance of man-woman marriage in our society and perceive that the issue really comes down to either preserving or radically changing that institution," Stewart said.
Voters also signed off on two other amendments: one will allow Utah lawmakers to call themselves into special session to impeach the governor and another permits the state to take an ownership interest in private companies that spin off from state universities. The changes will go into effect Jan. 1.
Don't Amend Alliance Director Scott McCoy said he was not surprised by the wide gap between those who backed the marriage amendment and those who didn't. But McCoy noted that Utah voters voted for the amendment in smaller numbers than voters in some of the 10 other states with marriage amendments on the ballot, including Kentucky, Mississippi and Oklahoma.
"In the state that is giving George Bush his highest margin of victory, Utah may well be giving the marriage amendment one of its lowest levels of approval. That's stunning," McCoy said. "In a state this conservative, there were a large number of people who came together and said this just isn't right."
Throughout a six-month, $1.2 million campaign, Utah politicians, lawmakers, attorneys and churches lined up on different sides of the issue. All three candidates for attorney general cautioned that the amendment will hurt existing Utah families and lead to expensive and lengthy litigation. But two weeks ago, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' First Presidency issued a statement generally seen as an endorsement of the amendment.
The KBYU/Utah Colleges Exit Poll showed that Utah voters split along political and religious lines when they cast their ballots. The vast majority of Republicans - 81 percent - voted for Amendment 3, while 78 percent of Democrats voted against the amendment.
Utah Catholics voted more than 2-to-1 against the amendment. But 86 percent of "active" members of the LDS Church voted for the amendment. Only 20 percent of voters who characterize themselves as "not active" Mormons cast ballots to change Utah's Constitution to define marriage.
"LDS voters were alone in supporting the amendment," said Brigham Young University political scientist David Magleby.