Utah Publication Requirements for Constitutional Amendments Measure (2026)

Utah Publication Requirements for Constitutional Amendments Measure
Election date November 3, 2026
Topic Ballot measure process
Status On the ballot
Type Legislatively referred constitutional amendment	Origin State legislature

The Utah Publication Requirements for Constitutional Amendments Measure is on the ballot in Utah as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment on November 3, 2026.

A "yes" vote supports amending the constitution to require that constitutional amendments be published, in a manner provided by the legislature, for 60 days immediately before the next general election.

A "no" vote opposes amending the constitution, maintaining the requirement that constitutional amendments appearing on the ballot be published in a newspaper in each county for two months.

Overview

How would this amendment change the publication requirements for constitutional amendments?

The Utah constitution requires that any proposed constitutional amendment on the ballot be published in at least one newspaper in every county in the state for two months before the election. Under HJR 10, potential constitutional amendments would be required to be published for 60 days before the election in a manner provided by statute.

Utah Governor Cox signed into law House Bill 481 (HB 481) on March 27. It would go into effect only if HJR 10 is approved by voters in the November 2026 election. Under HB 481, proposed constitutional amendments would be required to be published as a Class A Notice. Criteria for a Class A Notice are outlined in state statute 63G-30-102. Class A Notices from the state legislature are required to be published on the Utah Public Notice Website and the state legislature's website.

How are amendments to the Utah constitution introduced?

See also: Amending the Utah Constitution

The Utah constitution provides for legislatively referred amendments; there is no citizen-initiated process to amend the state constitution. In order to amend the constitution, the legislature passes a potential amendment in both the state House and the state Senate, with a two-thirds majority vote. Then, the amendment is placed on the ballot for voters to approve or deny. Unlike state statutory law, amendments do not require the governor's signature to be referred to the ballot. A simple majority vote (greater than 50%) is required from voters in order to approve a constitutional amendment in an election.

Have any amendments in recent years failed to meet the publication requirement?

See also: Amendments invalidated due to failure to follow publication requirements

There were two amendments proposed for the ballot in 2024 that were invalidated due to their failure to meet the publication requirement. Both Amendment A and Amendment D achieved a two-thirds majority vote in the state House and Senate and were certified for the ballot. However, the Utah Supreme Court ruled that they failed to meet the publication requirement and were subsequently invalidated. Though the amendments were printed on the ballot for the 2024 general election, no votes were counted for either ballot measure.

Text of measure

Constitutional changes

See also: Utah Constitution

The ballot measure would amend Article XXIII, Section 1 of the Utah Constitution. The following underlined text would be added and struck-through text would be deleted:

Note: Hover over the text and scroll to see the full text.

Article XXIII, Section 1. [Amendments: proposal, election.]

Any amendment or amendments to this Constitution may be proposed in either house of the Legislature, and if two-thirds of all the members elected to each of the two houses, shall vote in favor thereof, such proposed amendment or amendments shall be entered on their respective journals with the yeas and nays taken thereon; and the Legislature shall cause the same to be published in at least one newspaper in every county of the state, where a newspaper is published, for two months , in a manner provided by statute, for 60 calendar days immediately preceding the next general election, at which time the said amendment or amendments shall be submitted to the electors of the state for their approval or rejection, and if a majority of the electors voting thereon shall approve the same, such amendment or amendments shall become part of this Constitution.

The revision or amendment of an entire article or the addition of a new article to this Constitution may be proposed as a single amendment and may be submitted to the electors as a single question or proposition. Such amendment may relate to one subject, or any number of subjects, and may modify, or repeal provisions contained in other articles of the Constitution, if such provisions are germane to the subject matter of the article being revised, amended or being proposed as a new article.

Support

Ballotpedia has not located a campaign in support of the ballot measure. You can share campaign information or arguments, along with source links for this information, with us at editor@ballotpedia.org.

Supporters

Officials

• State Sen. Dan McCay (R)
• State Rep. Anthony Loubet (R)

Arguments

• State Rep. Anthony Loubet (R-27): "One thing we learned last year is that when it comes to constitutional amendments, our constitution has its own separate notice requirement. And that requirement requires two months publication in a newspaper, physical print. Back in the day, that was a great way of communicating with people. People received their newspapers daily and that would be [a] good method of notification. Unfortunately nowadays that’s not true any longer."

Opposition

Ballotpedia has not located a campaign in opposition to the ballot measure. You can share campaign information or arguments, along with source links for this information, with us at editor@ballotpedia.org.

Arguments

You can share campaign information or arguments, along with source links for this information, at editor@ballotpedia.org.

Campaign finance

See also: Ballot measure campaign finance, 2025

If you are aware of a committee registered to support or oppose this measure, please email editor@ballotpedia.org.

	Cash Contributions	In-Kind Contributions	Total Contributions	Cash Expenditures	Total Expenditures
Support	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00
Oppose	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00
Total	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00

Background

Amendments invalidated due to failure to follow publication requirements

In 2024, the newspaper publication requirement in the constitution led to the invalidation of two constitutional amendments that had been certified for the ballot. The Utah Supreme Court voided Amendment A and Amendment D, determining that election officials in both cases failed to comply with the newspaper publication requirement. Regarding Amendment D, the court’s opinion stated, “The submission and publication requirements are not mere boxes to be checked before votes can be tallied; they are constitutional safeguards designed to ensure that voters have the information and time necessary to cast an informed vote on a matter as weighty as a constitutional amendment. If those requirements are unfulfilled, it would be unconstitutional to allow a proposed amendment to go into effect. … Because Amendment D was not submitted to the voters in the way our constitution requires, it is void.”

In 2022, Iowa voters decided on a constitutional amendment that was originally intended to appear on the 2020 ballot. In order to appear on the 2020 ballot, the amendment, which would have established a constitutional right to bear arms, was required to be published before the public at least three months before November 2018. The Office of the Secretary of State failed to report and publish that constitutional amendment within the requirement, and the amendment process had to begin again. As such, the amendment did not appear on the ballot until 2022.

In 2021, the Pennsylvania State Department announced that officials did not publish a constitutional amendment as required, and as such it would not appear on the ballot. The amendment would have altered the state constitution to create a two-year period in which persons can file civil suits arising from childhood sexual abuse that would otherwise be considered outside the statute of limitations.

Publication requirements in other states

See also: Publication requirements for proposed state constitutional amendments

A total of 32 state constitutions contain a publication requirement for proposed constitutional amendments before they appear in an election. In 19 states, including Utah, the requirement specifies that a publication is made in a newspaper. The requirements in each constitution vary, and not all require that proposed amendments be published for a specified time period. The map below highlights which states have publication requirements for proposed constitutional amendments.

Path to the ballot

Amending the Utah Constitution

See also: Amending the Utah Constitution

A two-thirds majority vote in both the legislative chambers vote is required during one legislative session for the Utah State Legislature to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot. That amounts to a minimum of 50 votes in the Utah House of Representatives and 20 votes in the Utah State Senate, assuming no vacancies. Amendments do not require the governor's signature to be referred to the ballot.

House Joint Resolution 10

The following is the timeline of the constitutional amendment in the state legislature:

• February 11, 2025: The Utah House Government Operations Committee introduced the constitutional amendment as House Joint Resolution 10 (HJR 10).
• February 20, 2025: The Utah House Government Operations Committee unanimously approved HJR 10, progressing the amendment to the full Utah House of Representatives.
• February 26, 2025: The House of Representatives voted 70-0 to approve HJR 10, with five Republican representatives absent or not voting.
• March 4, 2025: The Utah Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee unanimously passed HJR 10 to advance the amendment to the full Utah State Senate.
• March 7, 2025: The Senate approved HJR 10 with a vote of 29-0 with no senators absent or not voting.

Vote in the Utah House of Representatives February 25, 2025
Requirement: Two-thirds (66.67 percent) vote of all members in each chamber
Number of yes votes required: 50  a
	Yes	No	Not voting
Total	70	0	5
Total percent	93.33%	0.00%	6.66%
Democrat	14	0	0
Republican	57	0	5

Vote in the Utah State Senate March 7, 2025
Requirement: Two-thirds (66.67 percent) vote of all members in each chamber
Number of yes votes required: 20  a
	Yes	No	Not voting
Total	29	0	0
Total percent	100%	0.00%	0.00%
Democrat	6	0	0
Republican	23	0	0

How to cast a vote

See also: Voting in Utah

See below to learn more about current voter registration rules, identification requirements, and poll times in Utah.

How to vote in Utah

Poll times

Utah is an all-mail voting state that offers vote centers for voters that choose to vote in person. All vote centers are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. local time. Utah voters are able to vote in person at any vote center. An individual who is in line at the time polls close must be allowed to vote.

Registration

Check your voter registration status here.

To register to vote in Utah, an applicant must be a citizen of the United States, a resident of Utah for at least 30 days prior to the election, and at least 18 years old by the next general election. Pre-registration is available for 16- and 17-year-olds. 17-year-olds may vote in primary elections if they will turn 18 by the general election. Registration can be completed online or by mailing in a form. The deadline to register online or by mail is 11 days before Election Day. After this deadline, voters may register in person at a vote center by casting a provisional ballot and providing two forms of identification.

Automatic registration

See also: Automatic voter registration

Utah does not practice automatic voter registration.

Online registration

See also: Online voter registration

Utah has implemented an online voter registration system. Residents can register to vote by visiting this website.

Same-day registration

See also: Same-day voter registration

Utah allows same-day voter registration at polling places during the 10 days preceding and on Election Day.

Residency requirements

Prospective voters must be residents of the state for at least 30 days before the election.

Verification of citizenship

See also: Laws permitting noncitizens to vote in the United States

Utah does not require proof of citizenship for voter registration. An individual must attest that they are a U.S. citizen when registering to vote. According to the state's voter registration application, a person who commits fraudulent registration is "guilty of a class A misdemeanor" under Utah Code 20A-2-401.

All 49 states with voter registration systems require applicants to declare that they are U.S. citizens in order to register to vote in state and federal elections, under penalty of perjury or other punishment. Seven states — Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, New Hampshire, and Wyoming — have laws requiring verification of citizenship at the time of voter registration, whether in effect or not. In three states — California, Maryland, and Vermont — at least one local jurisdiction allows noncitizens to vote in some local elections. Noncitizens registering to vote in those elections must complete a voter registration application provided by the local jurisdiction and are not eligible to register as state or federal voters.

Verifying your registration

The Utah lieutenant governor’s office allows residents to check their voter registration status online by visiting this website.

Voter ID requirements

Utah requires in-person voters to present non-photo identification while voting.

The following list of accepted ID was current as of May 2025:

“

"Valid voter identification" means: a form of identification that bears the name and photograph of the voter which may include: a currently valid Utah driver license; a currently valid identification card issued under Title 53, Chapter 3, Part 8, Identification Card Act; a currently valid identification card that is issued by: the state; or a branch, department, or agency of the United States; a currently valid Utah permit to carry a concealed weapon; a currently valid United States passport; or a currently valid United States military identification card; one of the following identification cards, regardless of whether the card includes a photograph of the voter: a valid tribal identification card; a Bureau of Indian Affairs card; or a tribal treaty card; or two forms of identification not listed under Subsection (79)(a) or (b) but that bear the name of the voter and provide evidence that the voter resides in the voting precinct, which may include: before January 1, 2029, an original or copy of a current utility bill, dated no more than 90 calendar days before the date of the election; before January 1, 2029, an original or copy of a bank or other financial account statement, dated no more than 90 calendar days before the date of the election; a certified birth certificate; a valid social security card; an original or copy of a check issued by the state or the federal government, dated no more than 90 calendar days before the date of the election; an original or copy of a paycheck from the voter's employer, dated no more than 90 calendar days before the date of the election; a currently valid Utah hunting or fishing license; certified naturalization documentation; a currently valid license issued by an authorized agency of the United States; a certified copy of court records showing the voter's adoption or name change; a valid Medicaid card, Medicare card, or Electronic Benefits Transfer Card; a currently valid identification card issued by: a local government within the state; an employer for an employee; or a college, university, technical school, or professional school located within the state; or a current Utah vehicle registration.

”

Click here for the Utah statute defining accepted ID to ensure you have the most current information.

See also

2026 ballot measures

View other measures certified for the 2026 ballot across the U.S. and in Utah.

• 2026 ballot measures
• Utah 2026 ballot measures
• Utah elections, 2026

Utah ballot measures

Explore Utah's ballot measure history, including constitutional amendments.

• List of Utah ballot measures
• Utah Historical Ballot Measures Factbook
• Direct democracy ballot measures
• Utah State Legislature

Legislative process

Understand how measures are placed on the ballot and the rules that apply.

• Legislatively referred constitutional amendment
• Utah Constitution
• Amending state constitutions

External links

• Utah House Joint Resolution 10 (2025)

Footnotes

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