UTAH STATE CAPITOL—Several bills addressing voting methods and regulations including vote-by-mail and signature gathering have been proposed during the current legislative session. HB479 (Election Code Modifications) sponsored by Rep. Jefferson R. Burton, R-Provo, requires a by-mail voter who returns a ballot to a ballot drop box to first provide identification to a poll worker at the ballot drop box. The box must also be staffed by at least two poll workers.

“We’ve talked about it over and over and over again that our constituency wants elections that are easy,” said Senate President J. Stuart Adams, during media availability at the Capitol March 2. “They want a very efficient way to vote but they also want it secure. So this bill is an attempt to do both. I actually wanted the bill but there is a portion of it that has not been worked out yet.”

Adams said the legislature probably needs to work on it. “But how do you implement the latter part of it? In urban areas it’s probably easier than in rural areas. We have areas like Snowville or Dutch John where people are voting. How do you bring your ballot back in?”

How long does somebody sit there (at the ballot box)? he said. “Do we go back to the one day voting? These are things that we need to try to work through. I think we’ll work on that in the Senate and try to figure out a way to make that work at the end.”

“I don’t think we have it (the answer), said Sen. Michael McKell, R-Utah County. “Obviously it’s still a House bill. I’m hoping that people can work with us.”

“If they have solutions we’d be looking for their suggestions too,” said Adams. “We’re part of the process.”

“We just want to make sure we don’t impact the people’s participation,” said Sen. Luz Escamilla, D-Salt Lake City. “We’ve done so good as a state with vote-by-mail. We recognize that we want the integrity of our voting process to be kept. But it would be really sad if we go back to a 40% participation of our voters. I don't think that’s what we want to do as a state. So it’s finding that balance – we're trying to get there.”

Everybody gets mailed a ballot, Adams said. “It’s what we’re doing now. Everybody has to verify they’re opting in, which I think is a good process, to make sure who’s getting a ballot. But when you get a ballot the ultimate determination of whether you're a citizen or not could be done when you’ve dropped that ballot off at the dropbox.”

The question right now is drop boxes are open for about 15 days to vote, he said. “In urban areas, it's really easy to staff the drop box because there’s staff in those areas. Where drop boxes are in rural areas, do you have somebody sitting at a drop box for 15 days when there’s not a lot of use for that drop box? That isn't economical.”

There are people using the drop box, said Adams. “So I think we could make it so it’s not restrictive at all. If we could just make it more secure, it makes sense.”