- Utah mega bill would incorporate several proposals to upgrade voter verification and transparency.
- A provision would make the names of most Utah voters public unless there is a reason to withhold.
- Speaker Mike Schultz hopes the bill includes in-person photo ID like his proposal from last year.
Utah Republican lawmakers crafted an election package in 2025, known as HB300, that cobbled together proposals to update voter verification by requiring state ID numbers, and to sanitize voter rolls by implementing an opt-in process.
This year state Senate leadership is proposing another “omnibus” elections bill — this one twice as long, at 157 pages — that would address a series of concerns about election oversight, voter identity and transparency that are shared by GOP leaders.
The bill, SB194, sponsored by Senate Majority Assistant Whip Mike McKell, R-Spanish Fork, combines a half-dozen ideas represented in other proposed pieces of legislation to produce a mega bill that McKell believes will “give confidence to voters.”
“We do a good job with our Utah elections but we can always improve,” McKell said.
What’s in Utah’s ‘omnibus’ elections bill?
McKell’s bill would make more than a dozen major changes to Utah elections, including a measure requiring a lieutenant governor to create an official policy of recusal when an apparent conflict of interest exists, and to lay out procedures for designating a temporary replacement.
Multiple proposals to overhaul election oversight were proposed and then dropped last year, following complaints about the practice of the lieutenant governor overseeing his or her own reelection.
A separate bill, HB361, introduced by Rep. Ryan Wilcox, R-Ogden, would create an Elections Oversight Task Force and a process to select “a conflict of interest elections officer” to take the lieutenant governor’s place for elections in which the lieutenant governor is a candidate.
Another major change in McKell’s bill would narrow Utah’s broad “private” designation for voter records. The provision would make names on Utah voter rolls public — as they are in most other states — unless a voter is able to specify a clear threat that justifies withholding that information.
This mirrors a bill, SB153, sponsored by Sen. John Johnson, R-North Ogden, that advanced from committee on Friday with McKell’s support. Johnson argued the bill would protect the state from federal lawsuits, while opponents worried it would place private voter information online.
McKell’s bill also overlaps with HB209, sponsored by Rep. Cory Maloy, R-Lehi, which passed the House along party lines on Monday. The bill would create a process for county clerks to verify documentary proof of U.S. citizenship during voter registration, in accordance with the Utah Constitution.
Both bills would create a “bifurcated ballot system,” similar to that used for military service members in the state, giving voters a federal-only ballot if they refuse to provide proof of U.S. citizenship. However, McKell’s bill would take effect next year, instead of before the 2026 election.
On Friday, the Lieutenant Governor’s Office provided an update on its review of noncitizens who are registered to vote. McKell’s bill would require the lieutenant governor to conduct an additional audit to determine whether the state has proof of citizenship for every voter record.
Could Utah still get in-person, photo ID?
McKell’s bill would also update the system he helped put in place during the 2025 legislative session as co-sponsor of HB300, along with Rep. Jefferson Burton, R-Salem.
Over the course of the session, HB300 underwent a dramatic transformation from initially demanding voters return their ballot in-person with photo identification to ultimately requiring voters to opt in to receive a mail-in ballot that asks for the final four digits of a government ID.
McKell’s bill, and a standalone bill, HB311, sponsored by Burton, would both amend HB300 to require county clerks to continue using ballot affidavits to verify voter identity if a voter signature does not match that on record, even if the voter has provided valid ID numbers.
Some conservative legislators, like House Speaker Mike Schultz, are pushing for this year’s election omnibus package to include a full return to the initial version of HB300, requiring in-person drop off of most ballots and photo ID verification of voters by poll workers.
“I hope the original HB 300 is part of that package from last year,” Schultz, R-Hooper, said on Monday. “We know that that’s something that’s widely popular.”
SB194 — which McKell said on Monday he was happy with in its current state — would also:
- Ensure individuals appointed to fill a vacancy belong to the same party as the prior officeholder at the time the officeholder was elected.
- Decrease the number of signatures a candidate would need to gather to qualify for a primary election in a county race.
- Remove the requirement for the Office of the Legislative Auditor General to perform an elections audit every other year.
