Candidate Petition Amendments

HB 458 amends Utah's ballot access rules for candidates seeking party nominations by changing signature verification procedures. It requires county clerks to only verify signatures from voters residing in their own county (prohibiting out-of-county verification) and mandates multi-county race candidates to submit signatures separately to each county clerk, with totals certified to the lieutenant governor. The bill also updates petition forms to restrict verification to county residents and sets new deadlines for signature processing. These changes directly affect candidates gathering manual signatures for nomination petitions, particularly for offices spanning multiple counties or for unaffiliated candidates.