Elections Study
HB 311 amends Utah's election law to change which forms of identification are valid for voting and update procedures for verifying signatures on mailed ballots. It requires poll workers to compare signatures on mail-in ballot return envelopes with voter registration records if they suspect a signature mismatch, rather than automatically rejecting ballots based solely on missing driver's license digits. If signatures match, the ballot is counted; if not, the vote is disallowed. This directly affects Utah voters who submit ballots by mail, altering how their signatures are verified during the voting process.
Bill status
signed
all 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Jan 2026
Committee Review
Jan 2026
House Passage
Mar 2026
Senate Passage
Feb 2026
Signed into Law
Mar 2026
Introduced Jan 22, 2026
Signed Mar 23, 2026
Maddy AI version diff · 3 comparisons
What changed between versions
Substitute #2
→
Enrolled
·
1 edit
·
Mar 23, 2026
MINOR
The bill text remained substantively unchanged between the two versions, retaining the same requirements for an elections study on voting security and ballot drop box procedures. The only modification was a timestamp update in the footer, changing the document's recorded time from March 5 to March 11, 2026, which reflects an administrative edit rather than a policy change.
TECHNICAL
The timestamp in the document footer was updated from 3-5-26 4:45 PM to 3-11-26 4:04 PM, indicating a revision date change without altering the bill's content.
Floor votes · Senate Mar 6, 2026 · House Mar 6, 2026
How they voted
22–5
Passed · 2 other
Total votes 29
Mar 6, 2026
D
Democratic6
83% Nay
N
Forward1
100% Yea
R
Republican22
95% Yea
Vote distribution
All Yea
All Nay
Mixed
No data
Full legislative history
Actions timeline
Total actions
49
Key actions
7
Committee
3
Amendments
2
Mar 23, 2026
Signed into law
Governor Signed
executive
Mar 6, 2026
Lower · Passed
House/ signed by Speaker/ sent for enrolling
lower
Mar 6, 2026
Lower · Passed
Senate/ signed by President/ returned to House
lower
Mar 6, 2026
Upper · Passed
House/ concurs with Senate amendment
upper
Mar 6, 2026
Introduced
Senate/ to House with amendments
lower
Mar 4, 2026
Introduced
Senate/ 1st reading (Introduced)
upper
Feb 9, 2026
Upper · Passed
House/ passed 3rd reading
upper
Jan 30, 2026
Lower · Passed
House/ committee report favorable [House Government Operations Committee]
lower
Jan 29, 2026
Lower · Passed
House Comm - Favorable Recommendation [House Government Operations Committee]
lower
Jan 27, 2026
Committee
House/ to standing committee [House Government Operations Committee]
lower
Jan 22, 2026
Introduced
House/ 1st reading (Introduced)
lower
1 primary · 1 co-sponsor
Sponsors
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