Utah is so good at running vote-by-mail elections that one might think our political class would be actively bragging about it.
Instead, legislative leaders have been spreading groundless gossip about how the state’s mail-in balloting system is an easy target for fraud and abuse. They are seeking to mess up one of the best things about politics in this state.
Utah voters, who clearly like the convenience of voting by mail, should not let them get away with it.
A bill now before the Utah House of Representatives, House Bill 479, would remove the option of voters returning their ballots the same way they get them — in the mail — and instead require them to return their completed ballots in person so that a newly hired swarm of poll workers can check each voter’s ID.
Utah’s county clerks — most of them Republicans — are unanimously opposed to the proposed change. A change that would cost taxpayers an estimated $10 million, for no appreciable benefit.
Unless one’s goal is to make it harder for qualified Utah voters to cast their ballots, there is no reason for this bill. Utah has made mail-in voting available at one level or other since 2004. The option became the default for running Utah elections in 2020, and there is not a single reason to think that there has been any problem or impropriety attached to it.
Republican lieutenant governors, including later-Govs. Gary Herbert and Spencer Cox, have been in charge of the system all along, rightly promoting and safeguarding the system. It makes no sense that the Republicans who control the Legislature would have anything but good things to say about it.
The office of the current lieutenant governor, Republican Deidre Henderson, recently combed through 2.1 million voter profiles and found one — one — noncitizen improperly registered to vote. And that person never actually cast a ballot.
Our lawmakers, long stalwart supporters of federalism, should not support Donald Trump’s call to “nationalize” elections, taking power from the states.
And they should not be doing anything to mess with a system that promotes high voter turnout, a key to a functioning and representative democracy.
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