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SALT LAKE CITY — Lawmakers on a House committee recommended 7-2 a bill that would eliminate straight-ticket voting.
HB70 sponsor Rep. Patrice Arent, D-Millcreek, believes single-mark, straight-ticket voting is part of a dying trend and just creates additional confusion — particularly on mail-in ballots.
Straight-party voting refers to an election process in which voters have the option to mark a box saying they vote for all of the candidates on a ballot who are a member of a certain party. If the voter chooses to mark the box, they do not have to go through each candidate individually.
On Thursday afternoon, Arent pointed out to the House Government Operations Committee that Utah is one of seven states who still have it in place.
“In today’s world it just doesn’t make sense to have it,” she said.
Removing the option would help make Utahns more thoughtful voters as well as eliminate confusion, especially with voting by mail, Arent said. She explained that some of the issues with straight-ticket voting is that it discourages thoughtful voting and often results in a voter simply checking the box and not voting on the nonpartisan positions such as judges or school boards.
This issue is exacerbated by mail-in ballots because those aren’t conducted on a machine that would alert the voter when they don’t vote in a non-partisan race or on a constitutional amendment, she said.
“This bill does not prohibit anyone from voting for every single person in a party. They just have to go through the names. It doesn’t take very long — I’ve timed it,” she said.
Arent has run similar legislation for several years, but this session will be her last attempt, she said. She issued a statement in January saying she will not be seeking reelection this year.
Last year’s iteration of the bill made it through committee and passed through the House with a sizable margin, but the session ended before it could come up for a vote in the Senate.
HB70 is identical to last year’s bill, save for a change in the short title.
The bill’s co-sponsor, Rep. Craig Hall, R-West Valley City, said the issue is particularly important to the people in his district. He recalled a recent survey sent to his constituents in which over 70% of respondents said they favor the elimination of straight-ticket voting.
“This is not a Republican issue or a Democrat issue,” Hall said. “This is something that is snowballing — it’s getting fewer and fewer states every year. Democrat states have gotten rid of it and Republican states have gotten rid of it.”
Vickie Samuelson, League of Women Voters of Utah co-president, also voiced her organization’s support of the bill. She believes that Utah citizens are intelligent people capable of making decisions regarding the individuals who represent them.
In her opinion, the elimination of straight-ticket voting could encourage voters to conduct more research before marking their ballot.
“We want people to be thoughtful voters. We want them to see the names of the people they are voting for,” Arent said.
