Bill Summary – FastDemocracy

Enrolled Copy                                                                            S.B. 17
                 VOTING AND VOTER RESIDENCY AMENDMENTS
                                     2023 GENERAL SESSION
                                          STATE OF UTAH
                             Chief Sponsor: Daniel W. Thatcher
                            House Sponsor: Calvin R. Musselman
 6
 LONG TITLE
 General Description:
        This bill amends elections provisions, including residency provisions for voting and
 running for office and provisions relating to uniformed and overseas voters.
 Highlighted Provisions:
        This bill:
        < defines terms;
        < amends and clarifies provisions for determining residency;
        < establishes standards and requirements for determining residency;
        < addresses evidence of residency and challenges to residency;
        < modifies provisions relating to uniformed and overseas voters to:
            C   comply with federal law and certain provisions of state law; and
            C   clarify the races for which, and the types of ballots which, certain overseas
 voters may vote; and
        < makes technical and conforming changes.
 Money Appropriated in this Bill:
        None
 Other Special Clauses:
        None
 Utah Code Sections Affected:
 AMENDS:
        20A-2-105, as last amended by Laws of Utah 2021, Chapter 183
        20A-16-102, as last amended by Laws of Utah 2021, Chapter 93
       S.B. 17                                                                        Enrolled Copy
        20A-16-103, as enacted by Laws of Utah 2011, Chapter 327
        20A-16-201, as enacted by Laws of Utah 2011, Chapter 327
        20A-16-301, as enacted by Laws of Utah 2011, Chapter 327
        20A-16-302, as last amended by Laws of Utah 2013, Chapter 198
        20A-16-401, as last amended by Laws of Utah 2020, Chapter 31
        20A-16-402, as last amended by Laws of Utah 2013, Chapter 198
        20A-16-403, as last amended by Laws of Utah 2019, Chapter 255
        20A-16-405, as enacted by Laws of Utah 2011, Chapter 327
        20A-16-501, as last amended by Laws of Utah 2021, Chapter 100
        20A-16-502, as last amended by Laws of Utah 2012, Chapter 369
        20A-16-503, as enacted by Laws of Utah 2011, Chapter 327
 REPEALS:
        20A-16-101, as enacted by Laws of Utah 2011, Chapter 327
43
 Be it enacted by the Legislature of the state of Utah:
        Section 1. Section 20A-2-105 is amended to read:
        20A-2-105. Determining residency.
        (1) As used in this section:
        (a) "Principal place of residence" means the single location where [a person's] an
 individual's habitation is fixed and to which, whenever the [person] individual is absent, the
 [person] individual has the intention of returning, as evidenced by:
        (i) the intent expressed by the individual; and
        (ii) acts of the individual that are consistent or inconsistent with the intent expressed by
 the individual.
        (b) "Resident" means [a person] an individual whose principal place of residence is
 within a specific voting precinct in Utah.
        (2) Election officials and judges shall apply the standards and requirements of this
 section when determining whether [a person] an individual is a resident for purposes of
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       Enrolled Copy                                                                                  S.B. 17
 interpreting this title or the Utah Constitution.
         (3) An individual may request that an election official or election judge assist the
 individual in determining the individual's principal place of residence for a purpose described
 in Subsection (2).
         [(3)] (4) (a) [A person] An individual resides in Utah if:
         (i) the [person's] individual's principal place of residence is within Utah; and
         (ii) the [person] individual has a present intention to maintain the [person's]
 individual's principal place of residence in Utah permanently or indefinitely.
         (b) [A person] An individual resides within a particular voting precinct if, [as of] on
 the date of registering to vote, the [person's] individual's principal place of residence is in that
 voting precinct.
         (c) [A person's] An individual's principal place of residence does not change solely
 because the [person] individual is present in Utah, present in a voting precinct, absent from
 Utah, or absent from the [person's] individual's voting precinct because the [person] individual
 is:
         (i) employed in the service of the United States or of Utah;
         (ii) a student at an institution of learning;
         (iii) incarcerated in prison or jail; or
         (iv) residing upon an Indian or military reservation.
         (d) (i) A member of the armed forces of the United States is not a resident of Utah
 merely because that member is stationed at a military facility within Utah.
         (ii) In order to be a resident of Utah, a member of the armed forces described in this
 Subsection [(3)(d)] (4)(d) shall meet the other requirements of this section.
         (e) (i) Except as provided in Subsection [(3)(e)(ii) or (iii), a person has not lost the
 person's] (4)(e)(ii) or (iii), an individual does not lose the individual's principal place of
 residence in Utah or a precinct if [that person] the individual moves to a foreign country,
 another state, or another voting precinct within Utah, for temporary purposes with the intention
 of returning.
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        S.B. 17                                                                          Enrolled Copy
         (ii) If [a person] an individual leaves the state or a voting precinct and votes or registers
 to vote in another state or voting precinct, the [person] individual is no longer a resident of the
 state or voting precinct that the [person] individual left.
         (iii) [A person loses the person's] An individual loses the individual's principal place of
 residence in Utah or in a precinct, if, after the [person] individual moves to another state or
 another precinct under Subsection [(3)(e)(i)] (4)(e)(i), the [person] individual forms the intent
 of making the other state or precinct the [person's] individual's principal place of residence.
         (f) [A person] An individual is not a resident of a county or voting precinct if [that
 person] the individual comes to the county or voting precinct for temporary purposes and does
 not intend to make that county or voting precinct the [person's] individual's principal place of
 residence.
         (g) [A person loses the person's] An individual loses the individual's principal place of
 residence in Utah or in a precinct if the [person] individual moves to another state or precinct
 with the intention of making the other state or precinct the [person's] individual's principal
 place of residence.
         (h) If [a person] an individual moves to another state or precinct with the intent of
 remaining [there] in the other state or precinct for an indefinite time as the [person's]
 individual's principal place of residence, the [person loses the person's] individual loses the
 individual's principal place of residence in Utah, or in the precinct, even though the [person]
 individual intends to return at some future time.
         (5) (a) An individual may challenge a determination by a voter, election official, or
 election judge of a voter's principal place of residence, for the purpose of voting, in accordance
 with the applicable provisions of Sections 20A-3a-803, 20A-3a-804, and 20A-3a-805.
         (b) If an election official or election judge has reasonable, articulable grounds to
 question the principal place of residence of an individual for a purpose described in Subsection
 (2), the election official or election judge may require the individual to provide information to
 resolve the question.
         (c) Reasonable, articulable grounds to question an individual's principal place of
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        Enrolled Copy                                                                                S.B. 17
 residence, and require additional information under Subsection (5)(b) include:
         (i) that the individual has a driver license or other identification from outside Utah;
         (ii) that the address claimed as the individual's principal place of residence does not
 match the address on the individual's driver license or other identification;
         (iii) that the individual owns residential property outside the location claimed as the
 individual's principal place of residence; or
         (iv) other articulable grounds that would lead a reasonable individual to question an
 individual's principal place of residence.
         (d) If an election official or election judge requires, under Subsection (5)(b), that an
 individual provide additional information, the clerk shall:
         (i) enter the voter registration into the statewide voter registration database; and
         (ii) indicate, in the statewide voter registration database, that the voter must provide
 additional information before the voter's ballot may be accepted.
         [(4)] (6) [An] Subject to Subsection (10), an election official or judge [shall, in
 determining a person's] who, under Subsection (5), makes a determination regarding an
 individual's principal place of residence, shall, when making the determination, consider the
 following factors, to the extent that the [election official or judge determines the] factors [to
 be] are relevant:
         (a) where the [person's] individual's family resides;
         (b) whether the [person] individual is single, married, separated, or divorced;
         (c) the age of the [person] individual;
         (d) where the [person] individual usually sleeps;
         (e) where the [person's] individual's minor children attend school;
         (f) the location of the [person's] individual's employment, income sources, or business
 pursuits;
         (g) the location of real property owned by the [person] individual;
         (h) the [person's] individual's residence for purposes of taxation or tax exemption;
 [and]
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        S.B. 17                                                                          Enrolled Copy
        (i) the location where the individual's motor vehicles are registered;
        (j) the address for which the individual pays utility services;
        (k) the address associated with the individual's hunting or fishing license;
        (l) the address associated with the individual's professional licenses; and
        [(i)] (m) other relevant factors.
        [(5)] (7) (a) [A person has changed the person's] An individual changes the
 individual's principal place of residence if the [person] individual:
        (i) acts affirmatively to move from the state or a precinct in the state; and
        (ii) has the intent to remain in another state or precinct.
        (b) [A person] An individual may not have more than one principal place of residence.
        (c) [A person does not lose the person's] An individual does not lose the individual's
 principal place of residence until the [person] individual establishes another principal place of
 residence.
        (d) An individual who moves from one county in Utah to another county in Utah
 retains the right to vote in the county from which the individual moved for 30 days after the
 day on which the individual moved from the county, unless the individual votes in the new
 county for that election.
        (e) An individual who is homeless may, in accordance with the other provisions of this
 section, establish a nontraditional location, including a location without a structure, as the
 individual's principal place of residence.
        [(6)] (8) In computing the period that a person is a resident[,] [a person shall] for a
 purpose described in Subsection (2), the period:
        (a) [include] begins on the day on which the [person] individual establishes the
 [person's] individual's principal place of residence; and
        (b) [exclude] ends on the day [of] before the day of the next applicable election.
        [(7)] (9) (a) Except as provided in Subsection [(10)] (12), there is a rebuttable
 presumption that [a person's] an individual's principal place of residence is in Utah and in the
 voting precinct claimed by the [person if the person] individual, if the individual makes an oath
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        Enrolled Copy                                                                                 S.B. 17
 or affirmation upon a registration application form or declaration of candidacy that the
 [person's] individual's principal place of residence is in Utah and in the voting precinct claimed
 by the [person] individual.
         (b) Except as provided in Subsection [(10)] (12), the election officers and election
 officials shall allow [a person] an individual described in Subsection [(7)(a)] (9)(a) to register
 and vote in the precinct for the residence claimed under Subsection (9)(a), or accept the
 [person's] individual's declaration of candidacy in the district for the residence claimed under
 Subsection (9)(a), unless, [upon a challenge by a registrar or some other person] in accordance
 with Subsection (5), it is shown by law or by clear and convincing evidence that:
         (i) the [person's] individual's principal place of residence is not in Utah or not in the
 applicable precinct or district; or
         (ii) the [person] individual is incarcerated in prison or jail and did not, before the
 [person] individual was incarcerated in prison or jail, establish the [person's] individual's
 principal place of residence in the voting precinct where the prison or jail is located.
         [(8)] (10) (a) The criteria described in this section for establishing [a person's] an
 individual's principal place of residence for voting purposes do not apply in relation to the
 [person's] individual's location while the [person] individual is incarcerated in prison or jail.
         (b) For voting registration purposes, the principal place of residence of [a person] an
 individual incarcerated in prison or jail is the state and voting precinct where the [person's]
 individual's principal place of residence was located before incarceration.
         [(9)] (11) If [a person's] an individual's principal place of residence is a residential
 parcel of one acre in size or smaller that is divided by the boundary line between two or more
 counties, that [person] individual shall be considered a resident of the county in which a
 majority of the residential parcel lies.
         [(10)] (12) (a) If an individual seeking to become a candidate for a political office that
 includes a durational residency requirement has been absent from the state for a period of more
 than 180 consecutive days during the applicable residency period, the individual may, at the
 time that the candidate files a declaration of candidacy, submit evidence to the filing officer to
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        S.B. 17                                                                          Enrolled Copy
 show that the individual intended to return to the state during the time of the individual's
 absence from the state.
         (b) There is a rebuttable presumption that an individual described in Subsection
 [(10)(a)] (12)(a) intended to return to the state during the individual's absence if:
         (i) the individual submits evidence of the individual's intent to the filing officer at the
 time that the individual files a declaration of candidacy; or
         (ii) the individual was absent from the state because the individual was:
         (A) employed in the service of the United States or of Utah;
         (B) a student at an institution of learning; or
         (C) engaged solely in religious, missionary, philanthropic, or humanitarian activities.
         (c) If a valid written objection to an individual's declaration of candidacy is filed, there
 is a rebuttable presumption that an individual described in Subsection [(10)(a)] (12)(a) did not
 intend to return to the state during the individual's absence if:
         (i) the individual did not submit evidence of the individual's intent to the filing officer
 at the time that the individual filed a declaration of candidacy; and
         (ii) the individual's absence from the state was not for one of the reasons described in
 Subsection [(10)(b)(ii)] (12)(b)(ii).
         (d) An individual must rebut the presumption described in this Subsection [(10)] (12)
 by clear and convincing evidence.
         Section 2. Section 20A-16-102 is amended to read:
         20A-16-102. Definitions.
         As used in this chapter:
         [(1) "Covered voter" means:]
         [(a) a uniformed-service voter or an overseas voter who is registered to vote in the
 state; or]
         [(b) a uniformed-service voter whose voting residence is in the state and who otherwise
 satisfies the state's voter eligibility requirements.]
         (1) "Covered voter" means an individual who: