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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- People convicted of felonies would never be allowed to hold any elected office in Utah under a measure planned for the upcoming legislative session.
Two men with felony convictions sought to run for mayor in Cedar City and Eagle Mountain. Neither won. The attorney general's office contended that felons could not hold office, but some attorneys disagreed.
Sen. Brent Goodfellow, D-West Valley, is sponsoring SB47 in behalf of state election officials to make it clear that felons, even if their voting rights have been restored, cannot hold elected office at any level of government.
Goodfellow said the problem is that state law does not match the Utah Constitution, which prohibits any convicted felon from voting or holding office until those rights have been restored in a way determined by the Legislature.
The current law does not make it clear that the right to vote and the right to hold office are separate things.
Assistant Attorney General Thom Roberts said the wording of the law leaves it open to the interpretation that when voting rights are restored, the right to hold office is restored as well. While the attorney general and the state elections office maintain that felons do not have the right to hold office, it could be challenged in court.
Under terms of the bill, a person with a felony conviction would not be allowed to register as either a regular or write-in candidate for elected office, Roberts said. The law will primarily apply to municipal and county elections, since it is made clear in other parts of the law that felons cannot run for state or federal office.
Joe Demma, chief of staff for Lt. Gov. Gary Herbert, said their office helped Goodfellow draft the bill to prevent further confusion.
"It's basically to clean up the language," Demma said. "It's a glitch we're trying to fix."
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
