The House Government Operations Committee approved two bills Wednesday that may drastically affect voting in Utah. HB35, sponsored by Rep. Marc Roberts, R-Salem, would create a pilot program that will make it an option to implement rank-choice and approval forms of voting in certain nonpartisan municipal elections. In rank-choice voting, the voter ranks multiple candidates for one seat from most favorable to least favorable with a numbering system. Approval voting differs from rank-choice voting in that voters mark the candidates they approve and leave the others blank.
Rep. Brad Daw, R-Orem, was the only dissenting vote in the committee to HB35, saying he had never heard of those methods of voting before and needed more time to learn about them.
HB141, sponsored by Rep. John Westwood, R-Cedar City, would allow election officers to reduce the early voting period to a minimum of two days from the 14 days currently required.
Full Article: Two bills to significantly affect voting in Utah | Deseret News.