The Utah Legislature adjourned its 2026 general session on March 6. During the session, lawmakers sent 14 election-related bills to Gov. Spencer Cox (R), who signed each one during the month of March.
Among those bills was HB 209, which requires individuals to provide documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote in state and local elections. The law allows voters who do not provide proof of citizenship to cast a ballot in federal elections only.
Documents establishing citizenship include a state driver’s license or ID card that verifies citizenship, a birth certificate, a naturalization certificate, or a passport.
Under the bill, election officials must also conduct a review of current registered voters by July 1, 2026, and use state and federal data sources to identify potential noncitizens. If those voters do not respond to a notice and provide proof of citizenship, they could be removed from the voter rolls.
The Senate passed the amended version of the bill on March 4, with 17 Republicans voting in favor and six Democrats, one Republican, and one independent voting against. The House of Representatives approved the bill on March 5, with 50 Republicans and one Democrat voting in favor and 13 Democrats and three Republicans voting against. Cox signed the bill on March 25.
Legislators also passed two bills amending requirements related to petition signatures.
Under Utah law, individuals can sign a statement to remove their signature from a ballot measure petition. HB 242 requires signature removal statements circulated by paid statement gatherers to include an acknowledgment that the ballot measure may not appear on the ballot if the individual signs the statement. It also requires paid statement gatherers to sign an affidavit for each signature gathered, be at least 18 years old, and wear a badge featuring a unique identification number. It requires anyone paying a statement gatherer to do so based on an hourly rate.
The bill also prevents signatures from being disqualified due to the date being off by one year if the date, adjusted by one year, would fall within the signature-gathering period. Cox signed the bill on March 7.
HB 32 requires individuals gathering petition signatures to complete a training course, stipulates that initiative and referendum petition signature gatherers may only be paid an hourly rate, and requires clerks to notify petition signers whether their signature was declared valid or invalid. Cox signed the bill on March 23.
Other bills enacted this session include:
- SB 194, which requires the lieutenant governor to create a written conflict of interest avoidance plan.
- SB 321, which requires municipal candidates to submit a year-end campaign finance report to the municipal clerk.
- HB 26, which requires a state commission to assist the lieutenant governor in procuring new voting equipment.
- HB 311, which requires Utah Valley University to conduct a study on the security risks of in-person voting compared to voting by mail and how best to check voter identification when ballots are deposited in a drop-box.
- HB 366, which creates a new appellate court, the Utah Constitutional Court, and changes the statement printed on ballots for judicial retention elections.
The Utah House advanced two measures, HB 529 and HJR 25, that would have established the office of secretary of state and transferred election-related duties from the lieutenant governor to the newly created office. The House also approved HB 479, which would require voter ID to return a mail ballot to a ballot drop-box. The three bills were not taken up in the state Senate.
Utah enacted 30 election-related bills in 2025, 14 in 2024, and 16 in 2023. Legislators introduced 48 election-related bills in 2026, 17 fewer than in 2025.