New here? "CMV PAC" is Count My Vote — the organization Gov. Mike Leavitt, Rich McKeown, and Kirk Jowers built starting in 2013 to let candidates reach the primary ballot by gathering signatures instead of relying solely on party convention delegates, leading to 2014's SB54 compromise. Rather than a one-time reform campaign, it has continued operating as an active PAC ever since — and its scale is far larger than its low public profile would suggest.
1. What Is This PAC?
CMV PAC's own Statement of Organization lists it as "also known as Count My Vote," created January 15, 2016, registered at 1311 E Maple Park Ct, Draper.
Rich McKeown
Co-founded Leavitt Partners and served as its first CEO (2009–2017). Longtime chief of staff to Mike Leavitt across three government roles. Has chaired Count My Vote since its 2013 founding, alongside Leavitt himself.
Val Oveson
Handles the PAC's day-to-day finances; regularly reimbursed for office expenses across multiple years, indicating an active, ongoing operational role rather than a nominal title.
Taylor Morgan & David May
Morgan was the PAC's earliest paid contact (Google Workspace setup, 2020) and a small personal donor in 2026. May is listed as an officer at a separate Sandy address.
This is a publicly known operation. Count My Vote is a well-documented, publicly known Utah reform group. Its standardized packages, its giving to candidates in both parties, and the pattern of funding candidates who struggle with convention delegates but do better with primary voters all follow directly from its stated mission.
2. Dominant Funders
Four names account for the overwhelming majority of CMV PAC's money.
This chart shows how these four donors compare to each other, not their share of the PAC's full multi-year total — three of the four connect directly back to the Leavitt family or Gail Miller.
"Utah Legacy Endowed Fund" — $280,000+ in 2025–2026 alone owned by Leavitt and Miller
By far the largest funder found: roughly $115,942 across nine payments in 2025, then $169,500 in a single payment on 1/14/2026 — the largest transaction in this PAC's entire history — plus another $91,500 on 3/12/2026. Registered at 176 Robbers Roost Ln, Cedar City, UT.
Fully resolved via two Utah Division of Corporations filings. "Utah Legacy Endowed Fund" is an assumed name (DBA) owned by Legacy Investment Partners LLC, whose own filing names its members directly: Michael O. Leavitt and Gail Miller. The DBA's registered agent is Taylor Morgan — a sitting CMV PAC Director.
This ties together everything else in this section. Mike Leavitt founded Count My Vote. Rich McKeown, his own longtime chief of staff and Leavitt Partners' first CEO, chairs it. Gail Miller has separately given the PAC $140,500 personally. Now it turns out Leavitt and Miller also jointly own the LLC behind the PAC's single largest funding source — the founder, the chair, and the top donor are connected through one entity, not a loose network of independent backers.
Gail Miller — $140,500 across three separate years
$50,000 (2022) + $50,000 (2023) + $40,500 (2024). Gail Miller, widow of Larry H. Miller, is independently documented as a named Count My Vote backer going back to its original 2013–2014 founding campaign — a consistent, decade-long relationship, not a one-time gift.
Leavitt Land & Investment Inc — $40,000 (2024) run by Mike Leavitt's brother
Two $20,000 payments, from a Cedar City PO Box. Not just a company that shares the Leavitt name — Utah Division of Corporations records confirm its CEO and Chairman of the Board is Dane O. Leavitt, Mike Leavitt's own older brother (second-oldest of the six Leavitt brothers, sons of Dixie Leavitt). A 1998 Deseret News profile independently confirms Dane Leavitt as "CEO of The Leavitt Group, Leavitt Land and Investment Inc. and various other associated entities." Formed in 1966, making it one of the oldest entities anywhere in this research.
A second administrative link, separate from the LLC-ownership one above: this company's CFO is Jim Douglas — the same Jim Douglas who is the registered agent for Legacy Investment Partners LLC (the entity Michael Leavitt co-owns with Gail Miller, behind the "Utah Legacy Endowed Fund"). The same person handles administrative duties for two separate Leavitt-family entities that both fund this PAC.
Scott Anderson — $50,000 (January 2026) confirmed
Registered from 1 South Main St, Salt Lake City — Zions Bancorporation's own headquarters address. This matches A. Scott Anderson, who led Zions Bank as President and CEO from 1998 until his 2024 retirement (he remains non-executive chairman). Anderson is independently documented as one of Utah's most influential political power brokers, nicknamed "Utah's unelected governor" for his reputation mentoring politicians and effectively vetting candidates before they run — a profile that fits naturally alongside Miller and the Leavitt family as an establishment figure backing this PAC.
Vendor note: Morgan May Public Affairs is CMV PAC's ongoing political and administrative vendor, paid roughly $2,500–$10,035 in nearly every reporting period from 2022 through 2026 — cumulative payments likely exceed $150,000, making it the PAC's operational backbone rather than a one-off contractor.
3. The Standard Package — and a Pattern That Repeats Across Election Cycles
On 1/18–1/19/2026, CMV PAC paid out a standardized $5,625 in-kind "signature gathering" package to at least eight candidates on the same two days. A handful of candidates received exact multiples of that rate instead. Click a column to sort.
| Candidate | Amount | Rate | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Corey Astill | $16,875 | 3x | Utah County Clerk candidate, 41.36% at convention |
| Bob Stevenson | $40,125 | ~7.1x* | *Combined across separate payments, not one lump sum |
| Scott Sandall | $11,250 | 2x | Also SB37/SB65 sponsor |
| Tamara Tran | $11,250 | 2x | Already has own SD-06 file |
| Brian McKenzie | $11,250 | 2x | Incumbent Davis Co. Clerk |
| Chris McConnehey | $5,625 | 1x | Plus $7,125 more separately — $12,750 total |
| Erik Craythorne | $5,625 | 1x | Already has own HD-13 file |
| Sam Barlow | $5,625 | 1x | HD-17, third-generation Barlow legislator |
| Lili Bitner | $5,625 | 1x | Full rate, corrected from an earlier prorated figure |
| Jim Dunnigan | $5,625 | 1x | HB0280 sponsor |
| Ray Ward | $5,625 | 1x | Also gave McConnehey $1,500 personally |
| McKay Jensen | $5,625 | 1x | HD-60 (Provo), longtime School Board president |
| Jake Hunsaker | $5,625 | 1x | Confirmed HD-48 winner; two-cycle pattern |
| Lisa Dean | $5,625 | 1x | HD-39 convention candidate |
| Kara Toone | $5,625 | 1x | HD-14 candidate |
| Sheldon Birch | $5,625 | 1x | Negative cash-on-hand per UtahPolitics.news |
Jake Hunsaker shows the underlying pattern across two entirely separate elections. In 2026 he lost the HD-48 convention narrowly (49.2%–50.8%) then won the primary comfortably (55.4%–44.6%). In 2022, challenging Rep. Burgess Owens for US House, he lost the convention badly (31.2%–68.8%) then improved substantially in the primary (38.1%, still a loss, but a real shift toward him among primary voters). The same shape — weaker with convention delegates, stronger with the broader primary electorate — shows up independently in the three candidates Checks & Balances PAC funded this cycle. Count My Vote's giving looks like it may functionally reward exactly this profile, which lines up naturally with its founding mission of building an alternative to convention-only nominations.
4. Transaction Explorer
Every transaction found in CMV PAC's records, 2020–2026. Search by name, or filter by type and flagged entries.
| Date | Type | Name | Amount | Purpose | Notes |
|---|
5. Worth Asking
- This PAC's single largest funder is an entity co-owned by the PAC's own founder and one of its top personal donors. When the people who created a "reform" organization also control its biggest funding pipeline, is that reform still independent of the establishment it was built to check — or has it become a new gatekeeper wearing the same label?
- Nearly every candidate this PAC subsidizes lost badly with their own party's convention delegates but won or competed once the race reached the broader primary electorate. Is bankrolling a path around the delegate system a form of democratization — letting more voters weigh in — or a way for concentrated money to override the preferences of a party's most engaged members?
6. Research Status
Identified since first publication — all eight names below were tracked down via public records and news coverage:
- Nina Barnes — ran for HD-73 in 2022, the first woman on that district's primary ballot.
- Sam Barlow — HD-17, 2026, a third-generation Barlow legislator taking over his father's seat — and running in the same primary as fellow CMV-funded candidate Lili Bitner.
- McKay Jensen — HD-60 (Provo), 2026, a longtime Provo School Board president.
- Scott Cuthbertson — SD-15, 2024, ran on explicit bipartisan appeal against Sen. Kathleen Riebe.
- Daryl Acumen — Chief Data Strategist at Integrity Matters LLC, which is separately a CMV PAC vendor; a longtime, controversial Utah GOP figure.
- Corey Astill — ran for Utah County Clerk in 2026, took only 41.36% at convention, campaigned defending vote-by-mail.
- Brian McKenzie — the incumbent Davis County Clerk, running for reelection — a rare incumbent among this PAC's usual underdog recipients.
- Marina Paul — a Weber State University student and Newman Civic Fellow (a national honor for public leadership), who also appears on an official Utah Legislature intern roster as Sen. Scott Chew's intern. The $2,500 payment most plausibly compensates real civic-engagement work, consistent with Count My Vote's own mission.
Still being checked — not yet confirmed one way or the other:
- Why did Bob Stevenson and Corey Astill receive far above the standard package rate (~7.1x and 3x respectively)? Worth checking their own campaign reports for what those specific in-kind entries covered.
- Two figures already in this project's files gave to CMV PAC personally — Jim Dunnigan and Raymond Ward — and separately received CMV PAC money themselves. Worth deciding whether that dual role is worth its own note.
- Is "Jake Hunsaker" here the same person as "Jake Huntsaker," who separately received $3,000 from Checks & Balances PAC? Spelling differs; not yet confirmed by address.
Sources
- Utah Lieutenant Governor's Office, disclosures.utah.gov — CMV PAC Statement of Organization and full raw itemized contribution/expenditure exports, 2020-2026
- countmyvoteutah.org — "Who We Are" (Rich McKeown biography)
- Salt Lake Tribune, "Most big money backers of Count My Vote skipped caucuses"; "Utah's 'unelected governor': The political clout of Zions Bank CEO Scott Anderson"; "Zions Bank CEO Scott Anderson, champion of Utah small businesses, to retire"
- Deseret News, "Count My Vote: Allow the people of Utah to choose their officials"; "Scott Anderson's remarkable career as Zions Bank CEO"
- Utah Policy, "Count My Vote Group Raises $540,000"; "'Count My Vote' Makes Their Case on How to Boost Voter Participation"
- Wikipedia — Dixie & Anne Leavitt Family Foundation
- Ballotpedia — Jake Hunsaker (Utah House District 48, 2026; US House Utah District 4, 2022)
