It’s election time. Some years, I have sent out an email explaining some of the issues that were on the ballot. I’ve had people ask about my thoughts again this year. So, I figured I’d put my thoughts on the web. It’s easier to share them there.
Voting can be overwhelming, and I want to help you out. Mostly, I want to help you be a voter, no matter who you’re voting for.
I will add some thoughts on a handful of specific candidates and issues at the end. Mostly, this guide is just about helping you vote. (If you just want to know who I’m voting for, jump to the end.)
Voting seems hard! Can you walk me through it?
Register to vote
If you’ve already registered to vote in Utah, you may have already received a mail-in ballot. If not, you should be receiving a ballot soon. You can verify your voter registration info at vote.utah.gov > “Find My Voter Registration Info”.
If you’re not already registered to vote, you have until October 25, 2024 to register online (at vote.utah.gov), or you can register in-person at a voting site. Register as soon as possible; if you register soon enough, you may still be able to get a mail-in ballot.
If you aren’t able to register online in time, you can still register at an in-person registration site.
How to vote
You have three options for voting in Utah: voting by mail, voting early in-person, and voting on election day in person. You can get more details about each option by going to vote.utah.gov > “How can I vote”. You’ll see something like this:
Voting by mail is definitely the best option if you can do it. You don’t have to wait in any lines, and you can take your time filling out your ballot. Just make sure to mail it or deliver it to a drop box on time.
Early in-person voting is available, but limited to certain dates and times. You may have to travel some distance to do it. Election Day voting is also an option, but it’s often crowded. You’ll need to bring two forms of ID. If you haven’t already registered, you can register at the ballot.
How do I choose who to vote for?
When you get your ballot, it can feel overwhelming. You likely have opinions about the US Presidential race. Maybe you have some thoughts about the Utah Governor race or your US Congressman. But you’re probably going to be asked about a bunch of things that you have absolutely no opinion on.
First thing to know: You don’t have to vote on every race! If you want to just vote on the presidential race and leave everything else blank, you can do that. Your vote will still be counted in the races where you expressed an opinion.
Your ballot doesn’t have much information on it, though. How do you know who to vote for? You may want to do some research about the candidates and issues on your ballot. To find out more about each option, you can visit vote.utah.gov > “Learn about Candidates and Issues”. Enter your address. It will direct you to a page that shows exactly which candidates and issues are on your ballot. Each candidate will have a link to their profile, where you can read more about them.
What about all these judges?
Part of your ballot includes a list of current judges, asking whether they should be retained. Judges are evaluated every 6 years for retention. Most of us are unqualified to evaluate judicial performance, but luckily, you’ve got help. Utah has an official Judicial Performance Evaluation Committee. Their job is to tell you how good a judge is doing. The ballot profiles will link to the committee’s recommendations.
If you look deeper, you’ll notice that the committee has probably recommended retaining every judge on your ballot. That’s not because they’re just rubber-stamping judges — rather, judges who get poor marks from the committee rarely choose to run for retention. The only ones you see on your ballot are the ones who received high marks.
Fill out your ballot, and turn it in!
Once you’ve filled out whatever portion of your ballot you want to, it’s time to turn it in. You can drop it at a secure voter drop box by 8:00pm on November 5. (Drop box locations can found at vote.utah.gov), or you can drop it in the mail. If you’re putting it in the mail, it must be postmarked by November 4.
And that’s it! If there’s something I still didn’t clear up, feel free to reach out to me; I’m happy to answer questions.
Okay, BJ, but who are you voting for?
Glad you asked!
Utah County Commissioner
I’m recommend voting for Alan Wessman. I’ve known Alan for years. He’s thoughtful, honest, and deeply cares about good government. As a candidate, he’s been reaching out to the various city councils and mayors to understand their needs from the county.
Currently, Utah County has a three-seat county commissioner system. These commissioners hold both executive and legislative powers. As Utah County has grown, this form of government is feeling inadequate; three people representing 700,000 people is a lot. Alan wants to help transition Utah County to a council-manager system, which divides these powers and gives more representation to Utah County citizens. I think that’s a great idea. It’s how most large counties in the US are run.
Utah Constitutional Amendments
There are four amendments to the Utah Constitution on your ballot, but two of them don’t actually matter. Amendment A and Amendment D were both voided by the courts after ballots were printed, due to legal deficiencies. Votes on these two amendments will not be counted. (You can read more about that here.)
(FYI, Amendment D’s description on your ballot is deeply misleading. It would have done roughly the opposite of what it says. If it comes up again in a future year, I’ll be fighting strongly against it.)
Amendment B is great, and I strongly support it. It provides Utah schools significant additional funds at no taxpayer cost. You can read more here, but basically, money from Utah’s federal lands goes into a trust fund that is earmarked for education. That fund currently has $3.3 billion, and the interest on that money is more than enough to support future growth. The state constitution says that we can only spend up to 4% of that State School Fund per year; this amendment would increase that to 5%. Pretty much everyone supports this change.
Amendment C is weird. It would write into the constitution that Sheriffs in Utah must be elected, not appointed. Utah sheriffs already are elected, and nobody has expressed any inclination to change that. I don’t support amending the constitution unnecessarily, so I’m voting against Amendment C.
Attorney General
The Utah Attorney General office has been highly politicized over the last 8+ years. I don’t think that’s a good thing. I support law enforcement that is disconnected from politics. I’m voting for Michelle Quist.
Proposition 11 (Split Alpine School District)
Alpine School District is the largest school district in Utah. It covers a large region with diverse needs, and I think it would be better served by splitting into multiple districts, allowing each to focus on the needs of that particular region. This is a contentious issue, but I’m leaning in favor.
Judges
As I mentioned earlier, Utah has a great system for our judges. Judges are appointed by the governor, then reviewed by an independent commission of qualified individuals (who review the performance without names attached) and accountable to voters. Judges cannot campaign; they are evaluated entirely on their merits. Political affiliation has no part in their evaluation or retention. This system works much better than what we see in some other stats, where judges are listed by partisan affiliation.
Anyway, I recommend voting to retain all the judges on your ballot, as per the independent commission’s evaluations.
US President
I support Kamala Harris. I like a bunch of her policy priorities, and I deeply disagree with Donald Trump on both issues and fitness for office. To me, the choice is obvious. I feel strongly about it.
But here’s the deal. I live in Utah. I’m well aware that Donald Trump is likely to win Utah, no matter what I write here. The few dozen people who read this just aren’t going to swing the result in Utah. So I’m not going to stress about trying to convince you. If you care to see my thoughts on the presidential race, I wrote a whole separate post just for you. I’m happy to talk about any of it further privately.
Thanks for reading, and happy voting! If you’re a Utah voter have questions about candidates or issues on your ballot or just how to vote in general, I’m happy to help.
BJ Homer 