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2021 Utah Code
Title 20A - Election Code
Chapter 3a - Voting
Part 2 - Voting Procedures
Section 204 - Marking and depositing ballots.
Universal Citation:
UT Code § 20A-3a-204 (2021)
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Effective 5/12/2020
20A-3a-204. Marking and depositing ballots.
Enacted by Chapter 31, 2020 General Session
20A-3a-204. Marking and depositing ballots.
- (1) To vote by mail:
- (a) except as provided in Subsection (6), the voter shall prepare the voter's manual ballot by marking the appropriate space with a mark opposite the name of each candidate of the voter's choice for each office to be filled;
- (b) if a ballot proposition is submitted to a vote of the people, the voter shall mark the appropriate space with a mark opposite the answer the voter intends to make;
- (c) except as provided in Subsection (6), the voter shall record a write-in vote in accordance with Subsection 20A-3a-206(1);
- (d) except as provided in Subsection (6), a mark is not required opposite the name of a write-in candidate; and
- (e) the voter shall:
- (i) complete and sign the affidavit on the return envelope;
- (ii) place the voted ballot in the return envelope;
- (iii) securely seal the return envelope; and
- (iv)
- (A) attach postage, if necessary, and deposit the return envelope in the mail; or
- (B) place the return envelope in a ballot drop box, designated by the election officer, for the precinct where the voter resides.
- (2)
- (a) Except as otherwise provided in Section 20A-16-404, to be valid, a ballot that is mailed must be:
- (i) clearly postmarked before election day, or otherwise clearly marked by the post office as received by the post office before election day; and
- (ii) received in the office of the election officer before noon on the day of the official canvass following the election.
- (b) Except as provided in Subsection (2)(c), to be valid, a ballot shall, before the polls close on election day, be deposited in:
- (i) a ballot box at a polling place; or
- (ii) a ballot drop box designated by an election officer for the jurisdiction to which the ballot relates.
- (c) An election officer may, but is not required to, forward a ballot deposited in a ballot drop box in the wrong jurisdiction to the correct jurisdiction.
- (d) An election officer shall ensure that a voter who is, at or before 8 p.m., in line at a ballot drop box, with a sealed return envelope containing a ballot in the voter's possession, to deposit the ballot in the ballot drop box.
- (a) Except as otherwise provided in Section 20A-16-404, to be valid, a ballot that is mailed must be:
- (3) Except as provided in Subsection (4), to vote at a polling place the voter shall, after complying with Subsections (1)(a) through (d):
- (a) sign the official register or pollbook; and
- (b)
- (i) place the ballot in the ballot box; or
- (ii) if the ballot is a provisional ballot, place the ballot in the provisional ballot envelope, complete the information printed on the provisional ballot envelope, and deposit the provisional ballot envelope in the provisional ballot box.
- (4)
- (a) An individual with a disability may vote a mechanical ballot at a polling place.
- (b) An individual other than an individual with a disability may vote a mechanical ballot at a polling place if permitted by the election officer.
- (5) To vote a mechanical ballot, the voter shall:
- (a) make the selections according to the instructions provided for the voting device; and
- (b) subject to Subsection (6), record a write-in vote by:
- (i) selecting the appropriate position for entering a write-in candidate; and
- (ii) using the voting device to enter the name of the valid write-in candidate for whom the voter wishes to vote.
- (6) To vote in an instant runoff voting race under Title 20A, Chapter 4, Part 6, Municipal Alternate Voting Methods Pilot Project, a voter:
- (a) shall indicate, as directed on the ballot, the name of the candidate who is the voter's first preference for the office; and
- (b) may indicate, as directed on the ballot, the names of the remaining candidates in order of the voter's preference.
- (7) A voter who votes at a polling place:
- (a) shall mark and cast or deposit the ballot without delay and shall leave the voting area after voting; and
- (b) may not:
- (i) occupy a voting booth occupied by another, except as provided in Section 20A-3a-208;
- (ii) remain within the voting area more than 10 minutes; or
- (iii) occupy a voting booth for more than five minutes if all booths are in use and other voters are waiting to occupy a voting booth.
- (8) If the official register shows any voter as having voted, that voter may not reenter the voting area during that election unless that voter is an election official or watcher.
- (9) A poll worker may not, at a polling place, allow more than four voters more than the number of voting booths into the voting area at one time unless those excess voters are:
- (a) election officials;
- (b) watchers; or
- (c) assisting voters with a disability.
Enacted by Chapter 31, 2020 General Session
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