Despite the popularity of vote by mail, Utah lawmakers are another step closer to making substantial revisions to it.
Right now, ballots are automatically sent to all 1.7 million active voters in the state. HB300 would require voters to opt-in to vote by mail every eight years. If they neglect to do so, they will have to vote in person. As a change to verification, they would also need to include the last four digits of a valid form of identification on their ballot.
The bill faced opposition from members of the Senate Business and Labor Committee on March 3, as well as county clerks and Utahns themselves.
Republican sponsor Rep. Jefferson Burton, however, thinks there’s a need to bolster election security and integrity.
“I believe this bill enhances and strengthens our vote by mail by adding this ID requirement, and it increases confidence in the process,” he told the committee.
A substitute version of the bill states the opt-in portion of the law won’t go into effect until 2029. The version that passed in the House listed 2028 as the effective date, but Burton said there was concern that more time was needed to roll out the new measures. Pushing the start date, Burton said, gives “voters time to be educated on this process [and] to help our election officials.” The bill allocates $2 million for public education and $3 million for fiscal year 2026.
Starting in 2026, voters will include the last four digits of the primary voter ID they use along with their signature. County clerks will have to verify the ID and cure the signature on the ballot as they do now. Once 2029 hits, only a valid ID number will be required. If people don’t have a state-issued ID card, Burton said Utah will give them out for free so they can vote.
As an additional measure, if a voter fails to vote in two consecutive general elections they will have to opt-in again for a mail ballot.
The substitute also provides more details on who would be considered an “exempt” voter. Those voters would be allowed to vote electronically from their residence if they are bedridden, living in a care facility or are unable to leave their house due to a disability.
“We strived hard to make sure we're not disadvantaging anyone,” Burton said. “We want more people to vote.”
Still, there were concerns about altering the widely popular vote by mail system from members of the committee and the public.
A 2024 poll conducted by the Hinckley Institute of Politics and the Deseret News found 75% of those surveyed have confidence in Utah’s system. Another poll done by The Sutherland Institute, a conservative think tank, found that 87% of people surveyed were very or somewhat confident that Utah ballots are secure.
Republican Sen. Todd Weiler, one of two Republicans who voted against the bill, said he struggled to understand what problem Burton was trying to fix.
Burton pointed to a Pew Research survey that found bipartisan support for some kind of voter ID laws. He also said the law would help Utahns who don’t feel like the state’s elections are secure because of the lack of voter ID laws.
“All this does is enhance an already good system so that there's a certain level of confidence that some people may not have when they don't see people showing identification to vote,” he told Weiler.
Legislative audits of the 2024 election found no evidence of voter fraud or glaring errors in the process. Although the audits did find issues with the state’s voter rolls.
Republican Sen. Evan Vickers, the other ‘no’ vote, asked if the legislation was going to make it harder for people in his district, which covers rural parts of the state, to vote. Burton admitted that from 2026 to 2029, it will likely be tougher because people will need to understand the new process.
“But once they get on the cycle, it's going to be very simple,” he said.
However, some county clerks aren’t on board with the proposed changes.
Salt Lake County Clerk Lannie Chapman said there are still “substantial hurdles” the bill brings to elections. First, not enough money is allocated for the state’s 29 county clerks to run the new process. And second, having to cure signatures and verify the last four digits of an ID will “at a minimum, double the amount of time it will take us to verify signatures before we can continue to process them.”
Iron County Clerk Jon Whittaker told the committee he has “grave concerns,” especially as it pertains to only jotting down the last four digits of an ID as a security method.
“I have my wife's social security number memorized,” he said. “That's much easier to fake.”
Members of the public voiced a similar sentiment – that it’s easier to write down someone’s state ID number than it is to forge their signature.
Utah County Clerk Aaron Davidson, who’s been critical of mail-in ballots in the past, likes the bill’s intent but believes the current version misses the mark. He suggested the committee hold the bill until they can find a better way to verify if an eligible voter is the one turning in a ballot.
“Our signatures are not our IDs. We need to figure out a way to make it more secure and involve the ID in a better way,” Davidson said.
Burton’s bill has transformed drastically since it went public with the original version being much more restrictive. When it was introduced to a House committee in February, it allowed ballots to be sent in the mail although voters couldn’t return them the same way. Voters would have needed to hand deliver their ballot to a secure dropbox or their county clerk’s office where a poll worker would need to check their ID to confirm they were eligible to vote.
The Senate Business and Labor Committee advanced the amended bill in a 5-3 vote.
It heads to the full Senate for its consideration.
