Challengeshttp://www.le.state.ut.us/~code/TITLE20A/htm/20A03014.htm20A-3-202. Challenges -- Recorded in official register and in pollbook.
(1) (a) When any person applies for a ballot or when a person offers a ballot for deposit in the ballot box, the person's right to vote in that voting precinct and in that election may be orally challenged by an election judge or any challenger orally stating the challenged voter's name and the basis for the challenge.
(b) A person may challenge another person's right to vote by alleging that:
(i) the voter is not the person whose name appears in the official register and under which name the right to vote is claimed;
(ii) the voter is not a resident of Utah;
(iii) the voter is not a citizen of the United States;
(iv) the voter has not or will not have resided in Utah for 30 days immediately before the date of the election;
(v) the voter does not live in the voting precinct;
(vi) the voter does not live within the geographic boundaries of the entity holding the election;
(vii) the voter's principal place of residence is not in the voting precinct;
(viii) the voter's principal place of residence is not in the geographic boundaries of the election area;
(ix) the voter has voted before in the election;
(x) the voter is not at least 18 years old;
(xi) the voter is involuntarily confined or incarcerated in jail or prison and was not a resident of the entity holding the election before the voter was confined or incarcerated;
(xii) the voter is a convicted felon and is incarcerated for the commission of a felony; or
(xiii) in a regular primary election, the voter does not meet the political party affiliation criteria established by the political party whose ballot the voter seeks to vote.
(2) (a) The election judges shall give the voter a ballot and allow the voter to vote if:
(i) the person challenged signs a written affidavit certifying that he meets all the requirements for voting; and
(ii) the election judge determines that the person challenged is registered to vote and, in a regular primary election, meets the political party affiliation criteria established by the political party whose ballot the voter seeks to vote.
(b) The election judges may not give the voter a ballot or allow the voter to vote if:
(i) the person challenged refuses to sign the written affidavit;
(ii) the election judge determines that the person challenged is not registered to vote; or
(iii) in a regular primary election, the election judge determines that the person challenged does not meet the political party affiliation criteria established by the political party whose ballot the voter seeks to vote and is unwilling or unable to take the steps authorized by law to comply with those criteria.
(c) (i) It is unlawful for any person to sign an affidavit certifying that he meets all the requirements for voting when that person knows he does not meet at least one of those requirements.
(ii) Any person who violates this Subsection (2)(c) is guilty of a class B misdemeanor.
(3) (a) Any person may challenge the right to vote of any person whose name appears on the posting list by filing a written signed statement identifying the challenged voter's name and the basis for the challenge with the county clerk on the Friday before the election during regular
business hours.
(b) The person challenging a person's right to vote shall allege one or more of the grounds established in Subsection (1)(b) as the basis for the challenge.
(c) The county clerk shall:
(i) carefully preserve the written challenges;
(ii) write in the appropriate official register opposite the name of any person for whom the county clerk received a written challenge, the words "To be challenged"; and
(iii) transmit the written challenges to election judges of that voting precinct.
(d) On election day, the election judges shall raise the written challenge with the voter before giving the voter a ballot.
(e) If the person challenged takes an oath before any of the election judges that the grounds of the challenge are false, the judges shall allow the person to vote.
(f) If the person applying to vote does not meet the legal requirements to vote, or refuses to take the oath, the election judges may not deliver a ballot to him.
(4) The election judges shall record all challenges in the official register and on the challenge sheets in the pollbook.
(5) If the person challenged under Subsection (3) voted an absentee ballot, the county clerk shall submit the name of the voter and the challenge to the voter to the county attorney, or the district attorney in counties with a prosecution district, for investigation and prosecution for voter fraud.Amended by Chapter 328, 2000 General Session
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