Election reform bills
Here’s a quick roundup of 10 of Utah’s election-related bills. Four bills are dead, six are still alive.
HB75 makes changes to a previously established pilot program to broaden the opportunities for cities to try ranked choice voting in their local elections. It has passed the House and is headed to the Senate.
HB197 prevents voters from changing party affiliation, although data from Princeton shows Dems flooding Republican rolls wasn’t really a thing. It has passed the House and Senate committee and is now headed to the Senate floor.
SB205 is the bill that is a soft repeal of 2014’s SB54 and would allow political parties to choose the convention-only route. It has passed committee 7-2 and is now circled on the Senate 2nd reading calendar.
HB338 would allow 16 and 17 year-olds to vote in school board elections. It has passed a House committee and heads to the House floor.
HB152 restricts which nicknames can be used on a ballot. It has passed the House and the Senate committee and is now headed to the Senate floor.
HB173 requires election officer to report an estimate of the total number of ballots in the election official’s custody that remain to be counted. It has passed the House and Senate committee and is on the Senate 2nd reading calendar.
HB174, a bill that would give municipalities the option of using “approval voting” failed in committee yesterday. Approval voting allows you to vote for as many candidates as you like and the one with the most votes, wins.
HB127, a bill that would allow ranked choice voting for primary elections for state or county office is stuck in House Rules.
HB203 would allow mail-in ballots to be postmarked on election day instead of the day before. It’s been stuck in Rules since the beginning of the session.
SB92 would have required more detail in campaign finance disclosures. It passed the Senate but died on the House floor yesterday.
