Here’s how electronic signature gathering could change how candidates qualify in Utah

SALT LAKE CITY — The way in which political candidates and citizens’ initiatives qualify for ballot access could look different in Utah in the coming years as the state moves ahead with electronic signature gathering, something some lawmakers say could make it easier to collect and validate signatures.

Signatures have traditionally been gathered by volunteers or paid gatherers with clipboards, going door-to-door asking voters to sign. Lawmakers in 2023 gave campaigns the option to use a tablet or similar electronic device to collect signatures in person, but so far, nobody has opted to use electronic gathering.

That’s likely because that law requires a campaign to use only one form of gathering or the other, but not both, according to Rep. Jordan Teuscher, R-South Jordan.

That could change soon, thanks to a newly enacted law that allows campaigns to use a mix of both methods going forward, something lawmakers think will increase the number of people who opt for the electronic method.

Elections specialists from the Utah Lieutenant Governor’s Office presented plans to roll out an electronic system by next year to lawmakers on the Government Operations Interim Committee this week, and lawmakers discussed ways to improve the system once it is rolled out.

Teuscher, who has worked on electronic signature gathering, said the cost of paper signature packets can add up quickly for campaigns, and added that electronic signature gathering would make it easier to verify the signatures, after a recent legislative audit found some errors made while validating written signatures.

“The cost of printing the packets was really expensive, especially in areas where … the initiative included a lot of text,” he said. “The packet itself, you’d have to go around to gather the signatures, might be hundreds of pages.”

In some cases, the cost just to print the signature petition packets could add up to nearly $1 million, he said, so lawmakers have been looking at ways to keep the signature-gathering option while lowering costs for taxpayers and campaigns.

To sign a virtual petition, voters would have to upload their driver’s license number or confirm other information, meaning it would be easy to ensure that each signee is an actively registered voter who is eligible to sign for whatever candidate or initiative they want to see on the ballot.

“Once someone has uploaded or scanned that driver’s license, immediately they can say that, yes, they are registered, that … signature is counted,” Teuscher said. “It doesn’t go back to a clerk to look at the signature itself and compare it against another signature (on file).”

Voter information can’t be stored on the devices candidates or campaigns use to collect signatures, so electronic gathering will only be available in places where gatherers have access to the internet to upload each signature directly to the elections office. And while lawmakers are considering ways to make the process more accessible going forward — and potentially eliminate the use of paper altogether — they don’t seem interested in voters signing directly online.

“I think there’s a lot of value in the gathering process,” Teuscher said, describing the in-person canvassing that gives voters a chance to interact or ask questions of those trying to collect their signature. “I’m sure there’s online polls that I voted one way that I didn’t necessarily think through all of the consequences of, so I think there’s value in the gathering process, but we want to make that process as seamless as possible, and I think that’s what this path provides.”