Utah voters may see delay receiving November mail-in ballots

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah voters could wait a few days to get their November mail-in ballots.

According to lawmakers and state elections officials, state law requires ballots to be sent from inside Utah. However, the US Postal Service processes some of this mail at a facility in Las Vegas.

The law reads: “An election officer shall ensure that, when the bulk of ballots are initially mailed to voters, the ballots are mailed from a location in Utah.”

State Elections Director Ryan Cowley said the extra stop adds a few days from county clerk to voter.

“When those ballots are dropped in Utah, say in Salt Lake,” said Cowley, “they’re then being sent by the postal system to Las Vegas, sorted, and then sent back to those counties for delivery.”

Davis County Clerk Brian McKenzie told legislators in a Government Operations Interim Committee hearing Wednesday he supports a change in the law.

“For example, if this provision of law wasn’t required,” said McKenzie, “these counties would be able to ship their ballots directly to the US Postal Service processing facility in Las Vegas and eliminate two to three days in delivery time for those ballots.”

Cowley said ballots arrive three weeks before the election.

Who’s affected by delayed mail-in ballots?

The ballot speed bump primarily affecting about five Utah counties with zip codes that start with 847, according to McKenzie.

These ballots used to go to a processing center in Provo, according to Cowley. However, the USPS downsized that facility.  USPS redirected that mail to the center in Las Vegas.

To consider a change in the wording, legislators voted to “open the bill file.” That process allows lawmakers to consider changing legal language in the future. However, that likely would not happen until next year’s legislative session.

In other words, Utah voters in southern Utah counties could still experience this delay during the presidential election this fall.

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