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Bill would ban straight-ticket voting

(Trent Nelson | Tribune file photo) Votes are cast as members of the Salt Lake County Democratic Party's central committee gather to choose a new county mayor from a field of four candidates at Corner Canyon High School in Draper, Jan. 26, 2019. A new bill in the Utah Legislature would prohibit straight-ticket voting in general elections.

(Trent Nelson | Tribune file photo) Votes are cast as members of the Salt Lake County Democratic Party's central committee gather to choose a new county mayor from a field of four candidates at Corner Canyon High School in Draper, Jan. 26, 2019. A new bill in the Utah Legislature would prohibit straight-ticket voting in general elections.

By https://s3.amazonaws.com/arc-authors/sltrib/d23c9c3d-6a35-4583-8f7c-a59ca4e57a79.png The Salt Lake Tribune
 | Feb. 4, 2019, 5:40 p.m.

Try, try again. It’s a motto that Rep. Patrice Arent, D-Millcreek, has embraced. On Monday she once introduced a bill banning straight-ticket voting, which she says is prohibited in 42 states. Last year some 127,000 voters in Salt Lake County used the option to vote for all candidates of one party: nearly 66,000 Democrats and about 52,000 Republicans. In Utah County 50,000 of straight-ticket voters voted Republican. Supporters of the measure say straight-ticket voting denies candidates of consideration by voters.

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