New bill aims to require voters opt-in to receive a mail-in ballot

SALT LAKE CITY — A new bill that will hit the house floor during the 2025 legislative session aims to make voters request a mail-in ballot instead of having the county clerks mail ballots by default. 

The bill is being proposed by Rep. Rex Shipp R-Cedar City.

“You have to opt-in to get a mail ballot, is the plan,” he said. “Once you’ve opted in, you’d continue to get a mail ballot unless you miss a general election. If you miss a general election, then you have to opt back in.”

Voting by mail, including the use of drop boxes, is very popular in Utah. 

In January 2024, Salt Lake County Clerk Lannie Chapman told KSL NewsRadio that during the 2023 election cycle, 99% of those who voted in Salt Lake County did so using a mail-in ballot.  Statewide, she said, 95% to 98% of voters cast their ballots using the one they got in the mail.

“Frankly, it’s all of us,” she said. “We all prefer to participate using our by-mail ballot.”  

For all those voters, Shipp said the bill would alter their deadline to submit mail-in ballots on Election Day, requiring the county clerk to have a ballot in their possession for it to count.

“If you want to choose to try and mail it in, that’s not going to matter what the date stamp is — it’s if they get it,” he said. “So you need to make sure you mail it in plenty of time and so it kind of encourages instead of mailing it to maybe go drop it in a drop-box or just vote in person.”

Ultimately, Shipp argued the bill would eliminate ballots not being counted because they were post-marked late.

Mail-in problems — are they, or aren’t they? 

According to Shipp, the bill will prevent problems with ballots in southern Utah being sent out of state to be stamped and sorted.

 Following 2024’s 2nd Congressional primary election, Republican Colby Jenkins filed a lawsuit saying 1,171 ballots weren’t counted because they were postmarked late.  

In October 2024, Washington County Clerk-Auditor Ryan Sullivan told KSL NewsRadio he decided to test the theory that ballots going to Las Vegas were getting stamped late.

“I mailed out several test pieces of mail at different locations at different times throughout Washington County. And you know what? The mail did exactly what I would expect it to do,” Sullivan said. “If I turn that piece of mail in before the pickup time, it all got postmarked in Las Vegas with that day’s date. If I put it in after the pickup time, it got postmarked the following day in Las Vegas.”

Based on the results of his test, Sullivan was hesitant to call the process a problem.

“I’m not so sure that there’s a big issue believe it or not with the mail going to Las Vegas as it’s been reported in the news,” he said. “I’m just looking at the test that I performed and if I had that ballot, put in there before the pickup time, it got postmarked in Las Vegas on the day that I put it in there.”

Shipp says another reason for the bill is inaccurate voter rolls.

“Our voter rolls seem to be somewhat of an issue these days not being cleaned up,” Shipp said. “People (are) getting multiple ballots (for) people that may have moved out of their household. Or, even people that are moving.”

Previously, Weber County Clerk-Auditor Ricky Hatch told KSL NewsRadio mail-in ballots have helped him clean up voter rolls as the undeliverable ballots have come back.

The importance of mail-in voting for overall turnout

A recent Deseret News and the Hinckley Institute of Politics poll found 75% of voters are confident in the state’s mail-in voting system.

Contrarily, Chapman said if this bill passes, it will increase the cost of elections and make it more difficult for voters “to make sure their voice is heard at the level it is now.” 

“The clerks would have to send out a postcard to all active registered voters and ask them if they want to participate or not,” she said. “Whereas right now we just assume all eligible voters would like to participate in the election and we send them a by-mail ballot.”

According to her, the mail-in voting rate has increased over the past two decades, meaning the overall turnout has increased as well. 

“If you look at participation from the early 2000s to more recently — for instance, a municipal race in the early 2000s before we primarily (voted) by mail — it wasn’t uncommon for us to see voter participation in the teens. Whereas last year (2023), participation was still low but it was about 33% to 35%,” she said. “I would dare say that has a lot to do with the fact that we make it so much more convenient.”

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Contributing: Mary Culbertson, KSL NewsRadio

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