Big Utah election bills pass House committee

SALT LAKE CITY — Major election reform bills advanced to a floor vote in the Utah House of Representatives on Tuesday seeking to transform how Utahns vote and how the state keeps track of who can vote.

The bills form the core of House Republicans' response to a pair of legislative audits released at the end of 2024 that identified points of concern with signature verification and voter roll cleanup in the state's vote-by-mail system.

House Majority Whip Karianne Lisonbee, R-Clearfield, and Rep. Jefferson Burton, R-Salem, presented their bills during a House Government Operations Standing Committee before a who's-who of GOP leadership, conservative activists and election officials.

While Lisonbee's proposal, HB332, would push the state to find a new third-party organization to clean up its voter rolls, Burton's, HB300, would require that after a ballot is mailed to a voter, it be returned to poll workers, in person with voter ID.

"This is foundational to our republic," Burton told committee members. "If we don't have trust in that process, then we really don't have anything."

An audit released in October, found that over 4% of signatures used for primary qualifications were incorrectly counted or rejected because of human error.

A December audit found 1,400 deceased voters who were still on Utah voter rolls, 700 of whom had received ballots as "active" voters.

Burton also voiced concerns over several hundred ballots that were rejected with a late postmark at least in part because of Postal Service delays in the extremely close 2nd Congressional District GOP primary.

Both bills enjoy the support of House Republican leadership but have been approached with skepticism by their Senate Republican counterparts.

They also elicited concern from the state's top experts on election administration.

HB300 would require opt-in for vote by mail

Burton's bill passed the committee with a 9-4 vote, seeing one Republican join Democrats in opposition to the bill over concerns about a funding source for the changes.

HB300 would not change who receives a mail-in ballot. All active voters would still receive a mail-in ballot between seven and 21 days before Election Day.

But voters would not be able to mail in "remote ballots" unless they go through an opt-in process by submitting a form to their county clerk with valid voter ID.

Voters would need to return their remote ballots at a standard polling place on Election Day or during a 14-day early voting period, or at a ballot drop box on Election Day or during a five-business-day window preceding Election Day.

County election officials would be required to station two poll workers at every drop box between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. during this period to ask for voter name and valid voter identification for all returned remote ballots.

Each county clerk would be required to have at least one fully staffed drop box in every municipality, with an additional drop box for every 10,000 active registered voters.

"The majority of clerks do have some concerns with this bill, the potential impact that it has on voters, how they will be implemented, the logistics of it and the cost," Davis County Clerk Brian McKenzie said.

'Trust and confidence'

A fiscal note provided by legislative analysts found that voter outreach would cost the state $282,500 in one-time expenditures and $20,400 ongoing.

The fiscal note also identified $425,500 in one-time costs and $6.0 million in ongoing costs for all Utah counties for additional equipment, staff and travel costs.

Utah GOP Party Chairman Rob Axson said the increase in voter trust from voter ID requirements would be well worth the cost.

"Convenience matters, but paramount beyond convenience is trust and confidence," Axson said. "Our entire system of government, a constitutional republic, is built on the trust and confidence that comes in the accuracy of the results that are articulated and presented following Election Day."

The bill states that mail-in voter status expires after two years and that ballots submitted via mail must be received by county election officials on or before Election Day to be counted.

Burton suggested on Wednesday that changes would be made to the bill as soon as this week to ensure that disabled individuals are able to opt-in for mail-in ballots.

Burton also said that hypothetically every Utahn could opt-in to submit their ballots via the mail.

"For those who want to vote by mail, they'll be able to vote by mail in this bill," Burton said.

HB332 would end reliance on current registration system

Lisonbee's bill passed through the committee with a favorable recommendation of 10-3 along party lines.

The bill would require the state to end its contract with the Electronic Registration Information Center by July 6, and lists requirements for obtaining another third-party contractor.

An alternative third-party contractor, which could include a private company or another entity authorized by the Legislature, must:

• Use industry standard security measures to protect records.
• Specialize in voter registration maintenance.
• Use voter registration data for no other reason than maintaining the accuracy of the database.
• Use data encryption to secure election records.
• Dispose of data according to an approved retention schedule.
• Utilize advanced data analytics for driver license records, property tax records, vital records and Medicaid application records.

The bill would also instruct the Lieutenant Governor's Office to publish updated voter registration totals on its website multiple times a year, report annually to the Legislature on its efforts to maintain the accuracy of voter rolls, and ensure that voter rolls are compared to death certificate information 90 days before every even-year election.

Lisonbee told committee members that her bill would address specific recommendations from the December audit report by standardizing which data must be crosschecked prior to every election and how such data must be protected.

"An accurate voter list is essential to ensuring that only those who can legitimately vote cast a vote," Lisonbee said.

Lisonbee argued that the Electronic Registration Information Center has not been an effective manager of Utah voter rolls and has not prioritized the privacy of Utah voter registration information.

House Minority Chair Angela Romero, D-Salt Lake City, voiced concern that Lisonbee's bill started out last session as a bill to exit the registration system and has morphed into a bill addressing the recommendations of an audit that did not include any criticisms of the system.

Weber County Clerk Ricky Hatch expressed worry over leaving the Electronic Registration Information Center, which currently identifies tens of thousands of questionable voter registrations for clerks every year, without a vetted alternative ready to go.

"We agree absolutely with the importance of list maintenance," Hatch said. "Let's not take a tool that works away, even if it's imperfect."

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