Report From Utah: Voters Just Ousted The Republican Representative Behind The State’s Sweeping School Book Ban Law

From The Salt Lake Tribune:

The Republican representative behind Utah’s statewide school book ban law was ousted last week.

Rep. Ken Ivory, R-West Jordan, lost his race against Democrat Drew Howells, who secured 58.11% of the vote as of Friday morning. Ivory received about 41.89%.

He acknowledged the defeat in a recent Facebook post.

Two years ago, Ivory sponsored Utah’s sensitive materials law. It requires a book to be removed from all public schools in the state if at least three school districts (or at least two districts and five charter schools) determine it amounts to “objective sensitive material” — pornographic or otherwise indecent content, as defined by state code.

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Since then, a total of 44 books have been banned from all Utah public schools. Once a title lands on the list, school districts must destroy all copies.

Nearly all of those 44 bans have been driven by just two school districts: Davis and Washington County. Davis is home to a prominent book ban advocate, Brooke Stephens, who shares a connection with Ivory.

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