Utah would stop mailing ballots to all voters automatically under a bill sent to its Republican governor as the state’s 2025 legislative session wrapped up on Friday.
The Republican-controlled Legislature approved a proposal requiring voters to opt in to receive their ballots in the mail. Voters who want to return their ballots by mail or to a drop box would need to write the last four digits of their driver’s license, state ID or Social Security number on the ballot return envelope. And starting in 2029, residents who vote in person would need to show a valid ID.
If Gov. Spencer Cox signs the bill into law, Utah would leave a list of eight states — all others Democrat-led — that allow all elections to be conducted by mail without a need to opt in.
“I’m very supportive of it. I think it’s a brilliant bill,” Cox told reporters Friday night. “Lots of people wrongly believe that we have mass fraud in our elections, and it’s just not true, but we need to restore trust to them as well.”
The governor has repeatedly expressed confidence in the state’s election security but said he supports changing the system so that votes can be tallied faster. Utah voters lose trust in elections when it takes weeks to count ballots, leaving time for bad actors to spread the lie that something nefarious is happening, Cox said.
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