Lawmakers reject bill that would prohibit counting of mail-in ballots after Election Day

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah lawmakers have declined to recommend a bill that would prohibit the counting of mail-in ballots after polls close on Election Day.

The bill was brought forward during the Legislature’s midterm sessions last month and died at a meeting of the Interim Government Operations Committee on Wednesday. Utah law requires mail-in ballots to be counted be postmarked no later than the day before the election.

The proposal was intended to resolve disputes that arose during the June Republican primary election in Utah’s 2nd Congressional District, in which several hundred ballots were postmarked late and were not counted. Colby Jenkins narrowly lost his race to Rep. Celeste Maloy and said the U.S. Postal Service was to blame. some ballots were marked late. If those votes were counted, he arguedthey could change the election results.

State Rep. Norm Thurston, a Provo Republican, introduced the bill to the committee Wednesday and said a similar situation occurred eight years ago in an election in Summit County. He also argued that the postmark period was unconstitutional, thanks to a Mississippi court ruling. He said changing the deadline for mail-in ballots would put the onus on voters to make sure their ballots are returned on time and would make the counting process smoother because clerks wouldn’t have to count ballots with a timely postmark that arrived after election day.

“Twenty-six other states are already doing this. It works very well for them,” he said. “These are the states that you see on election night that can release their results, 98% of which are counted by midnight on Election Day – that’s how they do it because they have the ballots. We don’t have them. our newsletters. We still have ballots for days after our election.”

The bill would also require county clerks to ensure that 95% of registered voters are within a 60-minute drive of a ballot drop box, a provision Thurston said would make it easier for voters in vast rural counties.

Davis County Clerk Brian McKenzie did not take sides on the bill, but told lawmakers the bill would make the job of clerks “a little easier” when counting votes.

But opponents of the bill argued that the mail-in voting provisions would disenfranchise voters whose ballots were mailed in on time but were not delivered until after the election.

“More than 90% of Utahns use, understand and trust our current system, and this change makes voting confusing and confusing for voters,” said Nat Williams, who spoke on behalf of the Let Utah Vote coalition. “Voters cannot predict or control when the U.S. Postal Service will deliver their mail, and—especially in San Juan County—rural mailboxes are often pulled early.”

Several lawmakers on the committee expressed concern about the proposal, including Sen. Daniel Thatcher, R-West Valley City, one of the committee’s chairmen. He said the timing of the postmark is “not ideal” but said “you can’t control when the mail arrives” but you can control when it is left.

Sen. Jennifer Plumb, D-Salt Lake City, said she received many emails “expressing concerns about accessibility, concerns about voter suppression” and ultimately voted against it.

The measure did not receive a favorable recommendation from the interim committee, which would have allowed it to move directly to the floor without the need for a committee hearing during next year’s upcoming general legislative session. Lawmakers can still propose similar legislation during the session, but it will start again in a standing committee.