Utah 2020 ballot measures

Elections in Utah, 2020

• Election date: Nov. 3
• Registration deadline(s): Oct. 23
• Online registration: Yes
• Same-day registration: Yes
• Recount laws

• Early voting starts: Oct. 20
• Absentee/mail voting deadline(s): Nov. 2 (received)
• Processing, counting, and challenging absentee/mail-in ballots
• Voter ID: Non-photo ID
• Poll times: 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

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2020 Utah Ballot Measures
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Seven statewide ballot measures were certified to appear on the Utah ballot on November 3, 2020. All were approved.

HIGHLIGHTS

The state legislature referred seven constitutional amendments to the 2020 ballot.

From 1995 to 2018, an average of four measures appeared on the ballot for even-year elections in Utah, of which 86.5% were approved by voters.

On the ballot

Type	Title	Subject	Description	Result
LRCA	Constitutional Amendment A	Constitutional language	Makes language in the state constitution gender-neutral	a
LRCA	Constitutional Amendment B	State legislatures	Specifies that qualifications of a legislator apply as of the time of election or appointment (rather than the time a legislator assumes office)	a
LRCA	Constitutional Amendment C	Constitutional rights and Constitutional language	Repeals a constitutional exception on the ban of slavery that allowed for slavery and involuntary servitude as punishment for a crime	a
LRCA	Constitutional Amendment D	Public works and Water	Specifies the circumstances under which a municipality may commit water resources or supply water outside its boundary or exchange water resources and revise provisions surrounding municipal water rights	a
LRCA	Constitutional Amendment E	Hunting and fishing	Creates a state constitutional right to hunt and fish for Utah residents	a
LRCA	Constitutional Amendment F	State legislatures measures	Provides that the legislature may set the session start date in state statute; excludes state holidays from the limit of number of days in a session	a
LRCA	Constitutional Amendment G	Taxes	Allows the Legislature to use revenue from income taxes and property taxes to "support children and to support individuals with a disability"	a

Potential measures

The Utah State Legislature was able to refer measures to the 2020 ballot. The legislative session adjourned on March 12, 2020. The deadline for citizen initiatives passed on February 18, 2020.

Not on the ballot

Type	Title	Subject	Description	Status
VR	Changes to State Tax Code Referendum	Taxes	Seeks to repeal Utah Senate Bill 2001, titled Tax Restructuring Revisions, which, among other things, decreases the individual income tax and increases the sales tax on food
LRCA	Allow Tax Revenue to Fund Services for the Poor, Disabled, or Elderly Amendment (SJR 3)	Taxes and Welfare	Allows tax revenue from income and intangible property to be used to provide services for the poor, disabled, or elderly
CISS	Carbon Tax Initiative	Taxes and Environment	Establishes a carbon tax; eliminates state sales tax on food beginning in 2022
CISS	Term Limits for State Legislators and Executive Officers Initiative	Term limits	Establishes term limits of 12 consecutive years for state legislators and eight consecutive years for executive officers (governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, state auditor, and state treasurer)
LRCA	Property Tax Exemption for Wildfire Prevention Efforts Amendment (SJR 10)	Taxes	Allows the Legislature to create a property tax expemption for property owners who incur expenses for measures taken to prevent wildfire on the property

Getting measures on the ballot

See also: Signature requirements for ballot measures in Utah

Utah allows citizen initiatives in the form of initiated state statutes and veto referendums. In Utah, initiated state statutes can be either directly or indirectly initiated. Signature requirements for directly-initiated statutes and referendum petitions are determined by calculating 8 percent of active voters in the state as of January 1 of the year following the last regular general election. For indirectly initiated statute petitions, proponents must gather signatures equal to 4 percent of active voters—a requirement of 57,935 for the 2020 ballot—to get the initiative before state legislators. A second, equal round of signatures is required if the legislature does not approve the initiative. The deadline to submit the first round of signatures for an indirect initiated state statute targeting the 2020 election ballot was November 15, 2019.

For veto referendums and direct initiated state statutes, at least 115,869 valid signatures were required. State law establishes a final signature deadline for direct initiated state statutes and the second round of signatures for indirect initiatives as either 316 days after the initial initiative application was filed or February 15 of the election year, whichever is earlier. Moreover, signature petition sheet packets for direct initiatives must be submitted to county clerks on a rolling basis no more than 30 days after the first signature is added to the packet. Signatures for veto referendums must be submitted on a 14-day rolling basis and must all be submitted within 40 days of the adjournment of the legislative session at which the targeted bill was passed.

The Utah Legislature can also place legislatively referred constitutional amendments and legislatively referred state statutes on the ballot. The legislature can put a proposed amendment on the ballot upon a two-thirds majority vote in both the legislative chambers. The amendment must then be approved by a majority of voters voting in the general election, not just a majority of voters voting on the amendment.

Referral of 2020 constitutional amendments

The following table illustrates the vote requirements for the constitutional amendments certified for the ballot, the votes the amendment received, and how Democrats and Republicans voted on the amendment in each legislative chamber:

Utah Legislator Qualifications Amendment				Democrats	Republicans
Senate:	Required: 20	Yes votes: 27 (93.10%)	No votes: 0 (0.00%)	Yes: 6; No: 0	Yes: 21; No: 0
House:	Required: 50	Yes votes: 73 (97.33%)	No votes: 0 (0.00%)	Yes: 16; No: 0	Yes: 57; No: 0
Utah Legislative Session Start Date Amendment				Democrats	Republicans
Senate:	Required: 20	Yes votes: 29 (100%)	No votes: 0 (0%)	Yes: 6; No: 0	Yes: 23; No: 0
House:	Required: 50	Yes votes: 50 (66.67%)	No votes: 24 (32.00%)	Yes: 8; No: 8	Yes: 42; No: 16
Utah Right to Hunt and Fish Amendment				Democrats	Republicans
Senate:	Required:	Yes votes: 21 (72.4%)	No votes: 7 (24.14%)	Yes: 3; No: 3	Yes: 18; No: 4
House:	Required: 50	Yes votes: 59 (78.66%)	No votes: 11 (14.66%)	Yes: 9; No: 7	Yes: 50; No: 4
Utah Remove Slavery as Punishment for a Crime from Constitution Amendment				Democrats	Republicans
Senate:	Required: 20	Yes votes: 26 (89.65%)	No votes: 0 (0.00%)	Yes: 6; No: 0	Yes: 20; No: 0
House:	Required: 50	Yes votes: 69 (92.00%)	No votes: 0 (0.00%)	Yes: 15; No: 0	Yes: 54; No: 0
Utah Municipal Water Resources Amendment				Democrats	Republicans
Senate:	Required: 20	Yes votes: 27 (93.1%)	No votes: 0 (0.00%)	Yes: 6; No: 0	Yes: 21; No: 0
House:	Required: 50	Yes votes: 71 (94.66%)	No votes: 0 (0.00%)	Yes: 15; No: 0	Yes: 56; No: 0
Utah Gender-Neutral Constitutional Language Amendment				Democrats	Republicans
Senate:	Required: 20	Yes votes: 27 (93.10%)	No votes: 0 (0%)	Yes: 6; No: 0	Yes: 21; No: 0
House:	Required: 50	Yes votes: 63 (84.00%)	No votes: 0 (0.00%)	Yes: 14; No: 0	Yes: 49; No: 0
Utah Use Income and Property Tax Revenue to Support Children and Individuals with Disabilities Amendment				Democrats	Republicans
Senate:	Required: 20	Yes votes: 26 (89.67%)	No votes: 2 (6.89%)	Yes: 3; No: 2	Yes: 23; No: 0
House:	Required: 50	Yes votes: 67 (89.33%)	No votes: 5 (6.66%)	Yes: 8; No: 5	Yes: 59; No: 0

Historical facts

See also: List of Utah ballot measures

• A total of 53 measures appeared on statewide ballots between 1995 and 2018.
• From 1995 to 2018, an average of four measures appeared on the ballot for even-year elections in Utah.
• The number of measures appearing on even-year statewide ballots between 1995 and 2018 ranged from one to seven.
• Between 1995 and 2018, 86.54 percent (45 of 52) of statewide measures were approved by voters, and 13.46 percent (7 of 52) were defeated.

See also

• 2020 ballot measures
• List of Utah ballot measures
• Laws governing the initiative process in Utah
• Utah Legislature

State profile

Demographic data for Utah
	Utah	U.S.
Total population:	2,990,632	316,515,021
Land area (sq mi):	82,170	3,531,905
Race and ethnicity**
White:	87.6%	73.6%
Black/African American:	1.1%	12.6%
Asian:	2.2%	5.1%
Native American:	1.1%	0.8%
Pacific Islander:	0.9%	0.2%
Two or more:	2.6%	3%
Hispanic/Latino:	13.4%	17.1%
Education
High school graduation rate:	91.2%	86.7%
College graduation rate:	31.1%	29.8%
Income
Median household income:	$60,727	$53,889
Persons below poverty level:	12.7%	11.3%
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2010-2015) Click here for more information on the 2020 census and here for more on its impact on the redistricting process in Utah. **Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.

Presidential voting pattern

See also: Presidential voting trends in Utah

Utah voted Republican in all seven presidential elections between 2000 and 2024.

More Utah coverage on Ballotpedia

• Elections in Utah
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External links

• Utah Division of Elections
• Utah Lieutenant Governor, Initiatives and Referenda in Process