SALT LAKE CITY — The House of Representatives pushed through a bill overhauling Utah's popular vote-by-mail system.
"Utahns, by large numbers, have told us they really like vote-by-mail," said Rep. Jefferson Burton, R-Salem, the sponsor of House Bill 300.
The bill — which previously required voters to present an ID and have dropboxes manned by people to check them — has been changed dramatically as a result of pressure from the public and negotiations with Lt. Governor Deidre Henderson's office and the Utah State Senate. The bill now requires people put the last four digits of their ID number on the ballot envelope, but they can still utilize a dropbox.
What has been changed is voters must now "opt-in" to receive a mail-in ballot.
"You’ve got this three-year window where you opt-in. But you opt-in at every touch point," said Sen. Mike McKell, R-Spanish Fork, who is now the Senate sponsor of the bill and negotiated heavily to preserve vote-by-mail. "You can opt-in by voting in person, you can opt-in by renewing your driver’s license. You can opt-in by renewing your registration or you can simply go in and opt-in. the idea was to make it very easy. We’re still working on it. It’s very easy. It was a priority."
Every eight years, a voter will be required to opt-in again under the current form of the bill.
Utahns with no ID must have some form of state-issued identification by 2028 to vote by mail. People who vote in-person must show that ID. Rep. Burton told his colleagues in the House that elderly, Indigenous and others with special circumstances will be offered one for free instead of paying a fee.
Another major change is ballots must be received by Election Day in order to be counted, Rep. Burton said. There will be exceptions for absentee and provisional ballots. That is to address another major complaint, he told the House, about the lack of results on Election Night.
Lawmakers, including House Speaker Mike Schultz, R-Hooper, have raised concerns about election security in recent years. They are also seeking to improve a ranking by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative policy think tank which has critiqued Utah's election systems. Other proposed changes include eliminating ranked choice voting in municipal races and requiring any election-related court settlements be approved by the legislature.
In Tuesday's debate, Republican lawmakers in the House said they had been flooded with constituent communications asking to preserve vote by mail. Many signaled this latest version of the bill may ease those concerns.
"Voters have spoken and we have listened," Rep. Burton said. "We know vote-by-mail is popular."
The bill passed on a 57-15 vote and now goes to the Senate for consideration.
