Utah elections officials clarify erroneous voter information sent by US Postal Service
Sep 14, 2020, 7:08 PM
Rep. Kera Birkeland, R-Morgan told KSL NewsRadio she plans to reintroduce legislation she ran late last year that would require voters to check a box on the state's elections website, or when they register, to choose to have their by-mail ballot sent. (Getty Images)
(Getty Images)
SALT LAKE CITY — Among the junk mail and requests to sell your home for you, you may have received a postcard recently from the United States Postal Service.
The postcard contained instructions to “request your mail-in ballot … at least 15 days before Election Day.” But that does not apply to Utah voters.
“While they were trying to be helpful,” said Justin Lee, State Director of Elections, “it had some information on there that really isn’t applicable to Utah.
Lee said that, in Utah, all active registered voters will receive their ballot in the mail automatically. Utah residents do not need to request a mail-in ballot if they have previously registered to vote.
There are some states in the United States where the information on the postcard is applicable. But there are others, like Utah, where the postcard could be confusing for voters. Those states include Colorado, Washington, Nevada, and Oregon.
An example of the mailer sent by the US Postal Service containing erroneous information for Utah voters. Photo credit: Lindsay Aerts
A judge in Colorado has barred the postal service from sending any election-related mailers after that state said it was sending false information.
“It was an interesting take from Colorado to take that to court, but in some ways, you can’t really pull it back once the postcards hit,” Lee said.
“The good thing that we’ve seen in Utah is that a lot of people have reached out [to say] ‘I got this postcard and it’s not correct, right?'”
A postcard mailed to Americans featuring incorrect information for many voters comes at a time when the topics of voting and mail-in ballots are receiving a lot of attention from President Trump and others who question whether mail-in voting is secure.
For the upcoming election, Utahns may cast their vote in one of four ways: through the mail, by depositing them at a mail ballot dropbox, at an in-person early voting location, or at an Election Day vote center.
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