For the upcoming June 30 primary election, Utahns will be asked to vote by mail and many of you may have already received your ballot. You might not know, however, that only 11 of the 29 counties in our state are providing prepaid return postage for mail-in ballots. That means hundreds of thousands of voters in the other 18 counties are being told they need a stamp to return their ballot.
But even if you don’t have access to a first-class stamp, you can still make sure your vote is counted. First, you can drop off your completed ballot at any official drop-box (usually located at the county clerk’s office) from now through Election Day, Tuesday, June 30. Second, just forget the stamp. The Utah Director of Elections has confirmed multiple times that the postal service will deliver any unstamped ballots to the county clerk’s office and charge your county for the missing postage. No stamp? No problem!
Share these tips with your friends, vote before June 30, and remember to ask your county elected officials to follow the lead of Davis, Utah, Salt Lake and other counties and provide prepaid return postage on all mail-in ballots for future elections. The lack of a stamp should never be an obstacle to voting.
Nikila Venugopal
Salt Lake City