NATHAN JOHNSON - Daily Herald | Posted: Monday, February 5, 2007 11:00 pm
Early voting was heralded by public officials as a massive success. But early voting leaves little time between municipal primary elections and when voting begins for the general election.
Municipal primary elections are now held in October. A bill approved by a House committee on Monday would push the date to the second Tuesday following the first Monday in September. It would also give cities and towns a choice of voting equipment.
An argument against the bill is that it would result in little time between the election filing deadline and the primary election.
Last year saw significant changes in election law, according to Lincoln Shurtz, director of legislative affairs for the Utah League of Cities and Towns. These changes have crowded the election calendar, giving only about two weeks between the primary election and the beginning of voting in the general municipal elections.
According to Shurtz, should an election be contested this would provide a very short time for a court to weigh in or for any type of legal proceedings to occur. The end result would be that county recorders and clerks might not have the time needed to prepare for the general election.
Representatives hope that the extra month that this bill provides would allow sufficient time to take care of any problems.
The bill also allows municipalities to choose whether they want to use electronic voting machines for their elections. Shurtz said the current law leaves ambiguity in whether municipalities are required to use electronic voting equipment.
For local elections, he said, electronic voting machines can be three to four times more costly than other equipment.
One potential problem with this legislation, says Rep. Sheryl Allen, R-Bountiful, is that the deadline for a candidate to register is Aug. 15, a date which could give as little as one week for the printing and distribution of ballots for the primary election.
Rep. James Dunnigan, R-Taylorsville, questioned whether early voting in municipal primaries is a "waste of manpower." While Dunnigan recognizes that with early voting there is a potential for higher numbers of voters, he still would like to "see if it is going to be worth the resources for the modest number of people that vote in the primary."
The committee approved HB 347 unanimously. Should it pass the House and Senate, municipal primary elections will be held on the second Tuesday following the first Monday in September.
HB 347, Rep. Douglas Aagard, R-Kaysville. This bill moves the date of the municipal primary election from October to September.
This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page A3.