Brigitte Romoleroux proudly wears her “I Voted” sticker after voting at the Main Library in Salt Lake City on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch)
The Republican-controlled Utah Legislature’s flagship election bill to phase out automatic voting by mail and require voters to provide the last four digits of their state identification number with their return envelope has reached the legislative finish line.
The Utah House and Senate gave final approval to HB300 on Thursday, the second-to-last day of the 2025 session that ends Friday at midnight. The bill now goes to Gov. Spencer Cox for his consideration.
After a roller coaster of alterations, HB300 is now a completely different bill compared to its original version sponsored by Rep. Jefferson Burton, R-Salem. Its first iteration would have drastically restricted voting by mail and required most Utahns to return their ballots in person at either a polling place or a drop box manned by at least two poll workers while showing their government-issued ID.
Utah House passes scaled back bill to require voter ID, still allow voting by mail
However, it was scaled back through negotiations by Sen. Mike McKell, R-Spanish Fork, to instead require Utah voters to write the last four digits of their ID on their ballot’s return envelope beginning in 2026 and slowly phase out Utah’s current automatic vote-by-mail system, setting a deadline of Jan. 1 2029.
The final version of the bill would do the following:
- Starting in 2026, require voters with a valid state ID to include the last four digits of their state ID when returning a ballot through the mail or in a drop box. For registered voters who cast their ballot without an ID number, clerks would confirm their ballots by matching their signatures.
- Phase out Utah’s current automatic vote-by-mail system by 2029. In order to vote by mail, Utahns would be required to obtain a valid state ID by Jan. 1, 2029 and opt in to voting by mail. By that deadline, clerks would also be required to rely on confirming state ID numbers on ballots rather than signature verification.
- Allows Utahns who are eligible to register to vote that also sign an affidavit stating that they’re indigent to receive a state voter ID card free of charge.
- Beginning in 2029, voters who vote in person must present a valid ID, except in certain circumstances, in which a voter could sign an affidavit and present two forms of alternative ID (like a social security card, bank statement or paystub).
- By 2029, requires voters to opt in to receive by-mail ballots every eight years.
- Creates new ways for voters to opt in to voting by mail, including when renewing their driver’s license, voting in person, or through an online portal.
- Move up Utah’s current deadline for by-mail ballots. Currently, Utah allows by-mail ballots to be postmarked by the day before Election Day in order for clerks to count them, but HB300 would require ballots to be in clerks’ possession no later than 8 p.m. on election night, regardless of their postmark.
- Enhances the lieutenant governor’s ability to investigate voter registration roll inaccuracies.
The House voted 56-15 and the Senate voted 19-10 to approve the bill, mostly along party lines — though some Republicans joined Democrats in opposing the bill.
Democrats opposed it as an unnecessary change to Utah’s election system — which recent legislative audits have shown does not have a widespread fraud problem. However, Republicans pointed to the same audits, which also found some errors on the voter rolls, as arguments that there’s room for improvement.
Utah election audit finds no ‘significant fraud,’ but raises concern over voter roll maintenance
“We have good elections in Utah,” McKell said on the Senate floor Thursday. “We have high confidence in vote by mail. But we also have concerns with security. And what we’re trying to balance in this bill is how do we enhance security, and at the same time making voting easy?”
Sen. Nate Blouin, D-Salt Lake City, argued against, saying by passing the bill, Utah lawmakers are “frankly, just feeding” into “conspiracy thinking” around election security. He also pointed out that county clerks continue to have concerns with the bill.
Weber County Clerk/Auditor Ricky Hatch told Utah News Dispatch in an interview Thursday after the bill’s passage that clerks “still have concerns” with implementation of the bill. Those concerns include requiring clerks to eventually rely solely on the last four digits of voter ID numbers for verification instead of signatures, which they worry could result in less security — not more.
“It’s a lot easier to get a hold of somebody’s last four (digits) of their state ID than it is to be able to forge their signature,” Hatch said. “But we have time to figure out a good way to implement and strengthen that.”
Hatch said there’s time between now and 2029 to hash out those concerns, so that’s why clerks eventually withdrew their opposition to the bill. He also expressed gratitude to both Burton, McKell and legislative leaders for being “fantastic to work with.”
“We have a commitment from both of them that they will work with us over the interim and in the future just to make sure that the processes for voting are secure and efficient and better for citizens, as well as for clerks and the government,” Hatch said.
Hatch added the final bill is the result of “a ton of back and forth” between the House and Senate, and he credited lawmakers with “keeping us informed and involved in the process.” While it’s markedly different from its first version in the House, he said lawmakers were able to find a middle ground.
“In the end, you know, if not everybody is happy with a bill, that’s probably a sign that it’s not that bad of a bill,” Hatch said. “Especially after our improvements, (it) will be an improvement for voting in Utah.”
In a statement to Utah News Dispatch sharing her appreciation for the negotiation that went into the bill, Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson, the state’s top election official, emphasized voters’ confidence in voting by mail.
“Utahns have overwhelmingly shown that they trust and prefer to vote by mail. This bill preserves that option. I appreciate the collaboration between election officials and the bill sponsors, as well as the public input that helped shape this legislation,” Henderson said.
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