Student Voting Guide | Utah
Registration
http://elections.utah.gov (registration form available online)
https://secure.utah.gov/voterreg/index.html;jsessionid=ee2bbc6d548a603e7eb22fdb6557 (online registration)
Regular voter registration ends 30 days before Election Day,[1] and mail-in registrations must be postmarked by that date.[2] You can register to vote online by this deadline if you have a Utah driver’s license or state identification card. You can register in person at the county clerk’s office up to 15 days before an Election, although you will not be able to vote through Utah’s early voting program if you register in this late registration window.[3] You may register to vote if you will be 18 by the next election.[4]
Residency
Under Utah law, you are a resident for voting purposes if your principal home is in Utah and if you presently intend to stay in Utah for an indefinite amount of time.[5] Your intention to make Utah your resident state is of key importance.[6] Utah presumes that anyone who registers to vote in Utah is a true resident of Utah.[7] Accordingly, if you register to vote in Utah, your registration cannot be denied on the basis of residency, and it cannot be canceled unless there is “clear and convincing” evidence that you do not currently intend to remain permanently or indefinitely in Utah.[8]
At School. Students attending school in Utah should be able to vote from their school address if they establish residency there. To establish residency, Utah law requires that you have a present intent to stay indefinitely or permanently in the state after graduation. This means that you should be eligible to register and vote as long as you are not certain that you will leave the state after school.
At Home. Students who lived in Utah before moving elsewhere to attend school, and who wish to establish or keep their Utah voting residency (i.e., at their parents’ Utah address), should have no problem doing so unless they have already registered to vote in another state. Like all states, Utah allows students to keep their voting residency even if they move out of the district to attend school, and the only way you will lose this residency is by establishing residency in a new state. While registering to vote in another state is not automatically considered abandonment of residency in Utah, some judges or officials might view it as such. Casting a ballot in another state will definitely be considered an abandonment of your Utah residency[9], and students who have voted in another state will have to re-establish residency in Utah if they wish to vote there.
Challenges to Residency. Any person may challenge your eligibility to vote based on residency until 2 business days before the date voting begins by filing a written signed statement.[10] If your eligibility is challenged in this way, poll workers will raise the challenge with you on Election Day and follow the procedure for Election Day challenges.[11]
On Election Day, only partisan poll watchers and poll workers may challenge a voter’s eligibility. [12] If your eligibility to vote is challenged on Election Day, you will be asked to show ID to verify your identity and residence.[13] If the poll worker determines that your ID proves your residence, you can vote by regular ballot.[14] Otherwise, you are still entitled to vote at the polls by provisional ballot.[15] That ballot will be counted if the county clerk determines that you are an eligible voter.[16]
Identification
All Utah voters must present “valid voter identification” at the polling place.[17] The state limits the types of photo ID accepted, but accepts a wider range of non-photo IDs, provided that a voter provides two distinct tuypes of non-photo ID.
“Valid voter identification” means either one form of photo ID that includes your name, or two forms of ID that include your name and proof of residency within the voting precinct.[18] Acceptable forms of photo ID include a valid Utah driver’s license, a valid US passport, any other photo ID issued by the state of Utah or by the U.S. government, and a tribal identification card regardless of whether it contains a photo.[19] A valid student ID issued by any college, university or professional school located in-state and an employee ID card issued by an in-state employer, which previously counted as a valid photo ID for first-time voters, is no longer acceptable. Acceptable forms of non-photo ID include a voter ID card, birth certificate, current utility bill (or a copy of one), bank account statement (or a copy of one), paycheck (or a copy of one), any government check (or a copy of one), and a Utah hunting or fishing license.[20] Cellular telephone bills will be accepted, as will online print-outs of relevant documents; student housing bills may or may not be accepted.[21]
If the poll worker is not satisfied with the validity of the identification given, then you may cast a provisional ballot and within five days you must go to the county clerk’s office and show valid voter identification for the ballot to count.[22] If you cannot show the required ID at the polls, then you are still entitled to vote by provisional ballot.[23] That ballot will be counted if the county clerk determines that you are an eligible voter.[24] If you are voting by absentee ballot and the election official determines that you must show valid voter identification, then you will have to either submit a copy of valid identification when you register or you will have to vote by provisional absentee ballot and submit identification with your ballot.[25]
Absentee Voting
http://elections.utah.gov/absentee%20form.pdf
Any registered voter may vote by absentee ballot in Utah without providing a reason for doing so.[26] Blank applications are available on the web site of the Lieutenant Governor at the link above, and applications must be received by your local elections officials no later than the Friday before Election Day.[27] If you are submitting your absentee ballot by hand, you must turn it in to election officials by the Friday before Election Day.[28] If you are mailing it in, it must be postmarked by the day before Election Day and received in the office of the election officer by the time ballots are canvassed (fully counted), which usually happens seven to fourteen days after an election.[29] Neither your application nor your ballot needs to be witnessed.
Early Voting
As a convenience to voters, Utah has early voting which begins 14 days before the election and ends on the Friday before Election Day.[30] At early voting sites, you can vote any precinct’s ballot for that county. If you do not consider your school address to be your permanent address, or if you have not changed your residence yet, then early voting provides an opportunity to vote a ballot at the residence from which you are absent. You should contact your local elections official for the location of your early voting site.
Last Updated in April 2010
[1] Utah Code Ann. § 20A-2-102.5(2) (2010).
[2] Utah Code Ann. § 20A-2-202 (1)(c)(ii).
[3] Utah Code Ann. § 20A-2-201 .
[4] Utah Code Ann. § 20A-2-101.
[5] Utah Code Ann. § 20A-2-105(3)(a).
[6] See Utah Code Ann. §§ 20A-2-105; 20A-1-102(64)(2010) (defining “resident” as someone who resides within a specific Utah voting precinct). The Attorney General has made clear that Utah’s gain or loss provision places no additional burden on students. 89 Op. Att’y Gen. 03 (Utah 1989). Every student’s residency must be determined by the same factors applied to all other voters and judged on a case-by-case basis. Id.
[7] Utah Code Ann. § 20A-2-105(6)(a).
[8] Utah Code Ann. § 20A-2-105(6)(b).
[9] Utah Code Ann. § 20A-2-105(4)(e)(ii).
[10] Utah Code Ann. § 20A-3-202(1)(b), (2)(a)-(b) (2010).
[11] Utah Code Ann. § 20A-3-202(2)(d), (4).
[12] Utah Code Ann. § 20A-3-201(1)(a)(i), (3).
[13] Utah Code Ann. § 20A-3-105.5(2).
[14] Utah Code Ann. § 20A-3-105.5(3).
[15] Utah Code Ann. § 20A-3-105.5(4).
[16] Utah Code Ann. § 20A-4-107(2)(c).
[17] Utah Code Ann. § 20A-3-104(1)(b).
[18] Utah Code Ann. § 20A-1-102(76).
[19] Utah Code Ann. § 20A-1-102(76)(a).
[20] Utah Code Ann. § 20A-1-102(76)(b).
[21] Interview with Spencer Hadley, Special Assistant to the Lt. Gov of Utah (July 8, 2008).
[22] Utah Code Ann. § 20A-3-104(1)(c)(ii)-(iii) (2010).
[23] See Utah Code Ann. § 20A-3-105.5(1)(c), (3)-(4).
[24] Utah Code Ann. § 20A-4-107(2)(a).
[25] Utah Code Ann. § 20A-3-305(3) (2010).
[26] Utah Code Ann. § 20A-3-301.
[27] Utah Code Ann. § 20A-3-304(3)(a).
[28] Utah Code Ann. § 20A-3-306(2)(a).
[29] Utah Code Ann. § 20A-3-306(2)(b).
[30] Utah Code Ann. § 20A-3-601.
