Bill Summary – FastDemocracy

LEGISLATIVE GENERAL COUNSEL                                                H.B. 92
Approved for Filing: T.R. Vaughn 6                                1st Sub. (Buff)
          6 02-05-24 8:36 PM 6
                     Representative Mark A. Strong proposes the following substitute bill:
                                    VOTING AMENDMENTS
                                       2024 GENERAL SESSION
                                            STATE OF UTAH
                                 Chief Sponsor: Mark A. Strong
                                  Senate Sponsor: ____________
 6
 LONG TITLE
 General Description:
         This bill modifies provisions relating to mailed ballots.
 Highlighted Provisions:
         This bill:
         < defines terms;
         < subject to certain exceptions, provides that an election is conducted both in person
 and by mail;
         < requires a county clerk to list a voter as an inactive voter if the voter receives a
 regular general election ballot by mail and fails to sign and return the ballot
 envelope by mail or by depositing the envelope in a ballot drop box;
         < provides a method for a voter described in the preceding paragraph to be returned to
 the list of active voters;
         < provides that a county clerk may only mail a ballot to an active voter or a military or   1st Sub. H.B. 92
 overseas voter; and
         < makes technical changes.
 Money Appropriated in this Bill:
         None
 Other Special Clauses:
     *HB0092S01*
       1st Sub. (Buff) H.B. 92                                                    02-05-24 8:36 PM
        None
 Utah Code Sections Affected:
 AMENDS:
        20A-1-102, as last amended by Laws of Utah 2023, Chapters 15, 234 and 297
        20A-2-505, as last amended by Laws of Utah 2023, Chapters 327, 406 and renumbered
 and amended by Laws of Utah 2023, Chapter 297
        20A-3a-106, as enacted by Laws of Utah 2023, Chapter 297
        20A-3a-202, as last amended by Laws of Utah 2023, Chapters 56, 106 and 297
34
 Be it enacted by the Legislature of the state of Utah:
        Section 1. Section 20A-1-102 is amended to read:
        20A-1-102. Definitions.
        As used in this title:
        (1) "Active voter" means a registered voter who has not been classified as an inactive
 voter by the county clerk.
        (2) "Automatic tabulating equipment" means apparatus that automatically examines
 and counts votes recorded on ballots and tabulates the results.
        (3) (a) "Ballot" means the storage medium, including a paper, mechanical, or electronic
 storage medium, that records an individual voter's vote.
        (b) "Ballot" does not include a record to tally multiple votes.
        (4) "Ballot proposition" means a question, issue, or proposal that is submitted to voters
 on the ballot for their approval or rejection including:
        (a) an opinion question specifically authorized by the Legislature;
        (b) a constitutional amendment;
        (c) an initiative;
        (d) a referendum;
        (e) a bond proposition;
        (f) a judicial retention question;
        (g) an incorporation of a city or town; or
        (h) any other ballot question specifically authorized by the Legislature.
        (5) "Bind," "binding," or "bound" means securing more than one piece of paper
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 together using staples or another means in at least three places across the top of the paper in the
 blank space reserved for securing the paper.
        (6) "Board of canvassers" means the entities established by Sections 20A-4-301 and
 20A-4-306 to canvass election returns.
        (7) "Bond election" means an election held for the purpose of approving or rejecting
 the proposed issuance of bonds by a government entity.
        (8) "Business reply mail envelope" means an envelope that may be mailed free of
 charge by the sender.
        (9) "Canvass" means the review of election returns and the official declaration of
 election results by the board of canvassers.
        (10) "Canvassing judge" means a poll worker designated to assist in counting ballots at
 the canvass.
        (11) "Contracting election officer" means an election officer who enters into a contract
 or interlocal agreement with a provider election officer.
        (12) "Convention" means the political party convention at which party officers and
 delegates are selected.
        (13) "Counting center" means one or more locations selected by the election officer in
 charge of the election for the automatic counting of ballots.
        (14) "Counting judge" means a poll worker designated to count the ballots during
 election day.
        (15) "Counting room" means a suitable and convenient private place or room for use
 by the poll workers and counting judges to count ballots.
        (16) "County officers" means those county officers that are required by law to be
 elected.
        (17) "Date of the election" or "election day" or "day of the election":
        (a) means the day that is specified in the calendar year as the day that the election
 occurs; and
        (b) does not include:
        (i) deadlines established for voting by mail, military-overseas voting, or emergency
 voting; or
        (ii) any early voting or early voting period as provided under Chapter 3a, Part 6, Early
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        1st Sub. (Buff) H.B. 92                                                      02-05-24 8:36 PM
 Voting.
        (18) "Elected official" means:
        (a) a person elected to an office under Section 20A-1-303 or Chapter 4, Part 6,
 Municipal Alternate Voting Methods Pilot Project;
        (b) a person who is considered to be elected to a municipal office in accordance with
 Subsection 20A-1-206(1)(c)(ii); or
        (c) a person who is considered to be elected to a special district office in accordance
 with Subsection 20A-1-206(3)(b)(ii).
        (19) "Election" means a regular general election, a municipal general election, a
 statewide special election, a local special election, a regular primary election, a municipal
 primary election, and a special district election.
        (20) "Election Assistance Commission" means the commission established by the Help
 America Vote Act of 2002, Pub. L. No. 107-252.
        (21) "Election cycle" means the period beginning on the first day persons are eligible to
 file declarations of candidacy and ending when the canvass is completed.
        (22) "Election judge" means a poll worker that is assigned to:
        (a) preside over other poll workers at a polling place;
        (b) act as the presiding election judge; or
        (c) serve as a canvassing judge, counting judge, or receiving judge.
        (23) "Election officer" means:
        (a) the lieutenant governor, for all statewide ballots and elections;
        (b) the county clerk for:
        (i) a county ballot and election; and
        (ii) a ballot and election as a provider election officer as provided in Section
 20A-5-400.1 or 20A-5-400.5;
        (c) the municipal clerk for:
        (i) a municipal ballot and election; and
        (ii) a ballot and election as a provider election officer as provided in Section
 20A-5-400.1 or 20A-5-400.5;
        (d) the special district clerk or chief executive officer for:
        (i) a special district ballot and election; and
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        02-05-24 8:36 PM                                                        1st Sub. (Buff) H.B. 92
           (ii) a ballot and election as a provider election officer as provided in Section
 20A-5-400.1 or 20A-5-400.5; or
           (e) the business administrator or superintendent of a school district for:
           (i) a school district ballot and election; and
           (ii) a ballot and election as a provider election officer as provided in Section
 20A-5-400.1 or 20A-5-400.5.
           (24) "Election official" means any election officer, election judge, or poll worker.
           (25) "Election results" means:
           (a) for an election other than a bond election, the count of votes cast in the election and
 the election returns requested by the board of canvassers; or
           (b) for bond elections, the count of those votes cast for and against the bond
 proposition plus any or all of the election returns that the board of canvassers may request.
           (26) "Election returns" includes:
           (a) the pollbook, the military and overseas absentee voter registration and voting
 certificates, one of the tally sheets, any unprocessed ballots, all counted ballots, all excess
 ballots, all unused ballots, all spoiled ballots, the ballot disposition form, and the total votes
 cast form; and
           (b) the record, described in Subsection 20A-3a-401(8)(c), of voters contacted to cure a
 ballot.
           (27) "Electronic signature" means an electronic sound, symbol, or process attached to
 or logically associated with a record and executed or adopted by a person with the intent to sign
 the record.
           (28) "Inactive voter" means a registered voter who is listed as inactive by a county
 clerk under Subsection 20A-2-505(4)(c)(i) or (ii), or (4)(d).
           (29) "Judicial office" means the office filled by any judicial officer.
           (30) "Judicial officer" means any justice or judge of a court of record or any county
 court judge.
           (31) "Local election" means a regular county election, a regular municipal election, a
 municipal primary election, a local special election, a special district election, and a bond
 election.
           (32) "Local political subdivision" means a county, a municipality, a special district, or
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        1st Sub. (Buff) H.B. 92                                                     02-05-24 8:36 PM
 a local school district.
         (33) "Local special election" means a special election called by the governing body of a
 local political subdivision in which all registered voters of the local political subdivision may
 vote.
         (34) "Manual ballot" means a paper document produced by an election officer on
 which an individual records an individual's vote by directly placing a mark on the paper
 document using a pen or other marking instrument.
         (35) "Mechanical ballot" means a record, including a paper record, electronic record, or
 mechanical record, that:
         (a) is created via electronic or mechanical means; and
         (b) records an individual voter's vote cast via a method other than an individual directly
 placing a mark, using a pen or other marking instrument, to record an individual voter's vote.
         (36) "Municipal executive" means:
         (a) the mayor in the council-mayor form of government defined in Section 10-3b-102;
         (b) the mayor in the council-manager form of government defined in Subsection
 10-3b-103(7); or
         (c) the mayor of a metro township form of government defined in Section 10-3b-102.
         (37) "Municipal general election" means the election held in municipalities and, as
 applicable, special districts on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November of each
 odd-numbered year for the purposes established in Section 20A-1-202.
         (38) "Municipal legislative body" means:
         (a) the council of the city or town in any form of municipal government; or
         (b) the council of a metro township.
         (39) "Municipal office" means an elective office in a municipality.
         (40) "Municipal officers" means those municipal officers that are required by law to be
 elected.
         (41) "Municipal primary election" means an election held to nominate candidates for
 municipal office.
         (42) "Municipality" means a city, town, or metro township.
         (43) "Official ballot" means the ballots distributed by the election officer for voters to
 record their votes.
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        (44) "Official endorsement" means the information on the ballot that identifies:
        (a) the ballot as an official ballot;
        (b) the date of the election; and
        (c) (i) for a ballot prepared by an election officer other than a county clerk, the
 facsimile signature required by Subsection 20A-6-401(1)(a)(iii); or
        (ii) for a ballot prepared by a county clerk, the words required by Subsection
 20A-6-301(1)(b)(iii).
        (45) "Official register" means the official record furnished to election officials by the
 election officer that contains the information required by Section 20A-5-401.
        (46) "Political party" means an organization of registered voters that has qualified to
 participate in an election by meeting the requirements of Chapter 8, Political Party Formation
 and Procedures.
        (47) (a) "Poll worker" means a person assigned by an election official to assist with an
 election, voting, or counting votes.
        (b) "Poll worker" includes election judges.
        (c) "Poll worker" does not include a watcher.
        (48) "Pollbook" means a record of the names of voters in the order that they appear to
 cast votes.
        (49) "Polling place" means a building where voting is conducted.
        (50) "Position" means a square, circle, rectangle, or other geometric shape on a ballot
 in which the voter marks the voter's choice.
        (51) "Presidential Primary Election" means the election established in Chapter 9, Part
 8, Presidential Primary Election.
        (52) "Primary convention" means the political party conventions held during the year
 of the regular general election.
        (53) "Protective counter" means a separate counter, which cannot be reset, that:
        (a) is built into a voting machine; and
        (b) records the total number of movements of the operating lever.
        (54) "Provider election officer" means an election officer who enters into a contract or
 interlocal agreement with a contracting election officer to conduct an election for the
 contracting election officer's local political subdivision in accordance with Section
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        1st Sub. (Buff) H.B. 92                                                      02-05-24 8:36 PM
 20A-5-400.1.
         (55) "Provisional ballot" means a ballot voted provisionally by a person:
         (a) whose name is not listed on the official register at the polling place;
         (b) whose legal right to vote is challenged as provided in this title; or
         (c) whose identity was not sufficiently established by a poll worker.
         (56) "Provisional ballot envelope" means an envelope printed in the form required by
 Section 20A-6-105 that is used to identify provisional ballots and to provide information to
 verify a person's legal right to vote.
         (57) (a) "Public figure" means an individual who, due to the individual being
 considered for, holding, or having held a position of prominence in a public or private capacity,
 or due to the individual's celebrity status, has an increased risk to the individual's safety.
         (b) "Public figure" does not include an individual:
         (i) elected to public office; or
         (ii) appointed to fill a vacancy in an elected public office.
         (58) "Qualify" or "qualified" means to take the oath of office and begin performing the
 duties of the position for which the individual was elected.
         (59) "Receiving judge" means the poll worker that checks the voter's name in the
 official register at a polling place and provides the voter with a ballot.
         (60) "Registration form" means a form by which an individual may register to vote
 under this title.
         (61) "Regular ballot" means a ballot that is not a provisional ballot.
         (62) "Regular general election" means the election held throughout the state on the first
 Tuesday after the first Monday in November of each even-numbered year for the purposes
 established in Section 20A-1-201.
         (63) "Regular primary election" means the election, held on the date specified in
 Section 20A-1-201.5, to nominate candidates of political parties and candidates for nonpartisan
 local school board positions to advance to the regular general election.
         (64) "Resident" means a person who resides within a specific voting precinct in Utah.
         (65) "Return envelope" means the envelope, described in Subsection [20A-3a-202(4)]
 20A-3a-202(5), provided to a voter with a manual ballot:
         (a) into which the voter places the manual ballot after the voter has voted the manual
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 ballot in order to preserve the secrecy of the voter's vote; and
         (b) that includes the voter affidavit and a