The future of Utah elections

Utah lawmakers are planning significant electoral reforms in the upcoming legislative session after a roller coaster ride during the 2024 election cycle.

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Utah’s primary process and vote-by-mail system came under fire from losing campaigns in 2024 who criticized the privacy of candidate signature packets, the subjectivity of signature verification and the uncertainty of relying on the U.S. Postal Service to return ballots.

After implementing numerous election safeguards in recent years, from mandatory audits to cleaned-up voter rolls, state legislators are looking to tackle Utah elections in a big way in 2025 to improve the process and maintain trust.

Independent election office

Maybe the largest of these reforms would be a return to 50 years ago.

In February, state Rep. Ryan Wilcox, R-Ogden, introduced a bill that would overhaul election oversight in Utah, creating a new executive agency to manage elections independent of the Lieutenant Governor’s Office, similar to the secretary of state model Utah had until the lieutenant governor position was created in 1976.

The bill, HB490, would require Utah’s statewide elected officials — the governor, lieutenant governor, treasurer, auditor and attorney general — along with the Legislatures’s House speaker and Senate president, to appoint the director of a new state Elections Office.

Read the full story and more from Brigham Tomco on deseret.com.

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