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2025 bills / S.B. 164

S.B. 164 Modifications to Election Law (2025)

Became lawWritten by Sen. Wayne A. Harper · carried in the House by Rep. Paul A. Cutler

  1. Introduced
  2. Senate committee
  3. Senate vote
  4. House committee
  5. House vote
  6. Signed into law

What this bill does

According to the official description, this bill:
  • defines terms
  • requires a county clerk to coordinate with local post offices to ensure the optimal handling of ballots
  • provides that a poll watcher may observe the signature-verification process for a petition to qualify a candidate for a primary election ballot (candidate petition) or for a written request to remove a signature from a candidate petition
  • makes it unlawful for a poll watcher to reveal certain information observed during the process described in the preceding paragraph
  • requires an election officer to conduct an audit of signature comparisons made for a candidate petition
  • requires an election officer who engages in the signature-verification process for a candidate petition to certify a certain percentage of signatures submitted beyond the required signature-gathering threshold
  • addresses viewing by a candidate or a candidate's campaign representative of a complete, unredacted signature packet, or a request to remove a signature from a signature packet, relating to a candidate petition for the candidate's election race
  • provides the ability for a voter to track a candidate petition recently signed by the voter and certain information relating to verification of the signature
  • in relation to a signature packet for a candidate petition, establishes requirements for:
  • submitting the packet
  • maintaining a chain of custody for a packet
  • storing a packet
  • grants rulemaking authority to the director of elections within the Office of the Lieutenant Governor
  • amends provisions relating to deadlines and the calculation of time in the Election Code
  • clarifies and modifies deadlines in the Election Code
  • includes coordination clauses:
  • adding Election Day as a legal holiday, to the repeal and reenactment of Section 63G-1-301 in this bill, if this bill and H.B. 351, Election Day Amendments, both pass and become law
  • adding Easter Sunday as a legal holiday, to the repeal and reenactment of Section 63G-1-301 in this bill, if this bill and S.B. 259, State Holy Days, both pass and become law
  • in the coordination clause described above, adding other changes made to Section 63G-1-301 in S.B. 259 to the repeal and reenactment of that section in this bill
  • makes technical and conforming changes
Full text and history on le.utah.gov →

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