Straight-ticket voting will remain an option for Utah voters. A House committee Tuesday rejected Rep. Patrice Arent’s HB119 to eliminate the option when six of the panel’s eight Republicans opposed it. Two GOP lawmakers joined the committee’s two Democrats in favor. Straight-ticket voting allows for a resident to vote for all candidates of one party with a single push of the button. Arent, D-Millcreek, said it has caused confusion in the past, citing as an example the 2006 election when the little-known Personal Choice Party received 14 percent of the vote in Salt Lake County.
“There is a reason that all the other Western states have done away with it,” she said, adding that Utah is one of nine states nationwide that still allows the straight ticket voting option.
Rep. Jeremy Peterson, R-Ogden, supported the bill, saying in Weber County, a review of past races found a 6 percent swing if straight ticket voters were excluded. In a close election, he said, that could be enough to decide an election.
Full Article: Bill to eliminate straight party voting is defeated | The Salt Lake Tribune.