Utah election reforms on collision course in final week of 2026 session

Utah lawmakers pushed forward two different kinds of election reforms this week that appear on track for a collision during the final seven days of the 2026 legislative session.

Building on conversations from last session, Republican legislators are advancing bills to address apparent conflicts of interest in election oversight and concerns about voter identification.

But the House and the Senate appear at odds over whether these changes should take the form of wholesale reforms or simple tweaks to Utah’s unique electoral system.

New secretary of state position?

On Thursday night, the House passed a pair of bills that would propose a constitutional amendment to transfer chief election officer duties from the lieutenant governor to a new secretary of state position.

Utah had an independently elected secretary of state until 1976, when voters approved an amendment to eliminate the position five years after lawmakers had combined the role with that of lieutenant governor.

Utah is the only state besides Alaska that puts the lieutenant governor in charge of elections. This has led to complaints about the lieutenant governor overseeing a running mate’s race.

More than 30 states elect a secretary of state as a separate constitutional office. The remaining 17 states have a chief election official that is appointed by the governor, legislature or a state board of elections.

If it passes the Senate, the amendment, proposed in HJR25 and detailed in state code in HB529, would appear on the 2026 ballot. If approved by voters, it would trigger an election for a new secretary of state in 2028.

To avoid the same conflict of interest concerns, subsequent secretary of state elections would be held in midterm years and would be administered by the lieutenant governor or an official chosen by the board of canvassers.

“The problem, real or perceived, is that we have a structural imbalance,” said bill sponsor Rep. Lisa Shepherd, R-Provo, in a committee hearing on Tuesday. “I don’t want our lieutenant governor to have that muck.”

Both proposals passed by a 45-vote margin, mostly along party lines, after Shepherd argued that in today’s environment of election distrust there needs to be a separate election position voters can fully vet.

Senate not interested

But on Friday, Senate leadership told reporters they were unsure what problem the House was trying to fix. Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, was also hesitant to add more amendments to the long list on the November ballot.

Adams’ preference, he said, was a Senate proposal that passed favorably out of a House committee on Friday morning and is headed for a final vote.

SB194, sponsored by Senate Majority Assistant Whip Mike McKell, R-Spanish Fork, would seek to address the same concerns surrounding the Lieutenant Governor’s Office by requiring a formal conflict of interest avoidance plan.

A plan was developed voluntarily by Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson prior to her 2024 reelection campaign, and by former Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox when he ran in 2020, assigning a third-party to respond to gubernatorial race disputes.

SB194 would make these steps official policy, outlining which specific decisions would require recusal by the lieutenant governor and designation of another individual to fill in for the lieutenant governor.

McKell’s omnibus election bill responds to several election concerns addressed in other bills, but takes a more incremental approach that seem more likely to bring together the Legislature’s upper and lower chambers.

Opt-in for vote by mail

On Wednesday, a House committee approved GOP lawmakers’ second attempt at overhauling Utah’s vote-by-mail system, to require most voters to opt-in to receive a ballot by mail and to opt-in to return it by mail.

The bill, HB479, sponsored by Rep. Jefferson Burton, R-Salem, echoes a policy from last year that was ultimately watered down to include one additional ballot verification measure — the final four digits of a government ID.

Burton’s vision is to place two poll workers at drop boxes to verify photo ID of those who choose to receive a ballot in the mail but who wish to avoid the delays caused by the post office or the subjectivity of signature verification.

This vision is shared by House leadership, who committed to help cover the expenses of up to $1.7 million for additional county clerk staffing, saying the boost to voter trust after recent election mishaps would be worth the costs.

“If nothing else it’s going to restore confidence in our electoral systems which we need desperately at this time,” House Majority Leader Casey Snider, R-Paradise, said.

However, Senate leadership is attempting to exert its influence on the bill before it passes to their side of the Capitol. Like he did with Burton’s photo ID bill last year, McKell has joined HB479 as its Senate sponsor.

On Friday, McKell said it was uncertain whether HB479 would continue in its current form or become part of his bill. Burton paused a floor vote for HB479 on Friday, saying he needed to work on it over the weekend.

HB479, which now has Burton as the House sponsor, builds on last year’s reforms by clarifying ballots will continue to require signature verification in addition to government ID once the changes are phased in.

Other election bills

Several other election reforms are on trajectory to become Utah law.

HB209, sponsored by Rep. Cory Maloy, R-Lehi, would require residents to show proof of citizenship to vote in state elections, instead of simply attesting to citizenship. The bill passed the House and awaits a final Senate vote.

SB153, sponsored by Sen. John Johnson, R-North Ogden, would make most private voter records public unless a reason is given. This would bring Utah in line with most other states. The bill passed the Senate and awaits a final House vote.

HB32, sponsored by Rep. Paul Cutler, R-Centerville, and HB242, sponsored by Rep. Karen Peterson, R-Clinton, clarify the training and gathering requirements for signature petition circulators. Both await final Senate approval.