Vote-by-mail reform passes Utah House with requirements for photo ID

The Utah House voted to require photo ID for most mail-in ballots on Wednesday, following weeks of negotiations between House and Senate Republicans that resulted in major changes to the biggest election reform proposal of the legislative session.

The bill, HB300, Amendments to Election Law, would differ from the version passed in committee three weeks ago by no longer requiring most ballots to be returned in-person to poll workers. But, like the original version, it would require voters to opt in to Utah’s previously universal vote-by-mail system.

One of the most significant reforms lawmakers included in the bill is that instead of relying on county clerks to verify voter signatures, the bill would require voters to write the final four digits of their driver’s license or state identification card on the return envelope for their ballot.

“We think that we can maintain the great things about vote by mail, and about voting in-person options, while improving security by requiring identification,” bill sponsor Rep. Jefferson Burton said during the floor debate.

HB300 passed along party lines, in a 57-15 vote, after limited discussion that saw lawmakers on both sides of the aisle try to seek clarification on the new version of the bill that had been publicly released just three hours earlier.

With less than two weeks left in the session, the bill will now advance to a Senate committee hearing.

What changed in the bill?

Since introducing HB300 on the second day of the session, Burton, R-Salem, has worked with House Speaker Mike Schultz, R-Hooper, and Senate Majority Assistant Whip Mike McKell, R-Spanish Fork, to develop a compromise bill that can pass both chambers.

“Utahns deserve to feel certain that their elections are secure, their votes are counted accurately, and their voices truly matter,” Schultz said in a statement. “We can keep the elements of our elections that Utahns love while bolstering election security, transparency, and integrity.”

HB300 originally would have required that after a ballot was mailed to a voter, it was returned to poll workers in person with voter ID, unless a voter applied for a mail-in ballot every two years at the county clerk’s office.

The bill would have also required clerks to staff additional drop boxes in the week leading up to Election Day, costing Utah’s 29 counties roughly $6 million in ongoing funds.

The bill was met with opposition from Democrats, who worried about accessibility for rural Utahns and the more difficult opt-in process for mail-in ballots.

It also received pushback from county clerks and some Republicans, who worried about the logistics, costs and pragmatism of overhauling a process that had few problems.

In its current form, the bill would require voters to include the last four digits of a valid Utah license certificate — other than a driving privilege card — or of a state identification card, on the return envelope of their mail-in ballot.

The bill outlines a free process for individuals to obtain a state identification card at a license examining station by proving their birth date and lawful presence in the country. There will be a remote option available to those who need it because of disability, age, extended illness, or long-term absence from state.

A signature affidavit option will be available on mail-in ballots until the changes are completely phased in on Jan. 1, 2028.

After this date, voters in Utah will only receive a mail-in ballot if they request one when they renew their state ID, register to vote, vote in person, fill out an online form on the lieutenant governor’s website or submit a form at their county clerk’s office.

Mail-in ballot status will expire after eight years if not renewed or if a voter does not vote in two consecutive regular general elections.

“You’ll see enhanced security knowing that you put your driver’s license number on the ballot, but a very, very easy opt-in process,” McKell told reporters on Tuesday. “I don’t think you’ll see any disruption.”

Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, called the bill a “brilliant” balance between convenience and security and predicted that Utah’s new system “will be copied by other states.”

Utah is one of around a dozen states that does not require photo ID as part of the voting process. During his floor presentation, Burton referred to the Heritage Foundation’s Election Integrity Scorecard, which ranks Utah 33rd, mostly because of lax voter ID requirements and absentee ballot policies.

After Tuesday’s changes, Democrats continued to oppose the bill because it would “automatically opt out millions of Utahns from vote-by-mail, impose unnecessary barriers to voter registration, and eliminate protections for ballots postmarked before Election Day,” a House minority caucus statement said.

Will HB300 speed up election results?

Shifting away from signature verification will remove one of the most time-consuming and error-prone steps in Utah’s decade-old vote-by-mail system, according to McKell.

Requiring state ID numbers as the primary form of identity verification will allow ballots to be judged to be valid or invalid in an objective way by election machines, which McKell said will speed up the process and reduce the number of ballots that have to be cured with the voter because of a mismatched signature.

The bill will also require mail-in ballots to be received by county clerks by 8 p.m. on election night to be counted, instead of having received a postmark from the U.S. Postal Service by the day before Election Day.

While the House bill was framed as a response to concerns from election audits and losing campaigns in 2024, these deadline changes are intended to respond to complaints about Utah being one of the slowest states in the nation to update election results.

“If you look at where House Bill 300 started, and where it is today, it’s a different bill. I think it’s a better bill,” McKell said. “I think we’ve been responsive to the concerns that have been expressed by the public.”

Around two dozen election bills have been introduced this session, ranging from proposals to make candidate signature gathering more transparent, to efforts to appoint a new elections director in the state.

McKell hopes many of the best ideas related to how Utahns get their ballot and vote are ultimately consolidated into HB300.

Ideas from Rep. Doug Fiefia’s bill that would push back deadlines to achieve same-day election results in Utah and House Majority Whip Karianne Lisonbee’s bill that would cancel the state’s contract with ERIC, a multistate voter roll cleanup tool, have already been integrated into HB300.

HB300 would also:

• Require the Lieutenant Governor’s Office to implement a plan to have county clerks adjust voter rolls according to the number of individuals who are registered to vote at a single-family home address.
• Require the Lieutenant Governor’s Office to utilize the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements Program to identify noncitizens who register to vote.
• Require the Lieutenant Governor’s Office to enter into an agreement with federal courts to use jury information to identify voters with criminal convictions or noncitizen status.
• Require county clerks to investigate the validity of a voter registration when a ballot mailed by the county clerk is returned as undeliverable.
• Remove the limitation that a candidate seeking primary nomination may only gather signatures either manually or electronically, but not both.