Utah Code 20A-2-105. Determining residency

20A-2-105. Determining residency.

(1)

As used in this section:

Terms Used In Utah Code 20A-2-105

Armed forces: means the United States Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Space Force, and Coast Guard. See Utah Code 68-3-12.5
Ballot: means the storage medium, including a paper, mechanical, or electronic storage medium, that records an individual voter's vote. See Utah Code 20A-1-102
Election: means a regular general election, a municipal general election, a statewide special election, a local special election, a regular primary election, a municipal primary election, and a special district election. See Utah Code 20A-1-102
Election judge: means a poll worker that is assigned to:

(a)	preside over other poll workers at a polling place;

(b)	act as the presiding election judge; or

(c)

serve as a canvassing judge, counting judge, or receiving judge. See Utah Code 20A-1-102

Election official: means any election officer, election judge, or poll worker. See Utah Code 20A-1-102

Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.

Person: means :Utah Code 68-3-12.5

Property: includes both real and personal property. See Utah Code 68-3-12.5

Resident: means a person who resides within a specific voting precinct in Utah. See Utah Code 20A-1-102

State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes a state, district, or territory of the United States. See Utah Code 68-3-12.5

United States: includes each state, district, and territory of the United States of America. See Utah Code 68-3-12.5

Voter: means an individual who:

(a)	meets the requirements for voting in an election;

(b)	meets the requirements of election registration;

(c)	is registered to vote; and

(d)

is listed in the official register book. See Utah Code 20A-1-102

Voting precinct: means the smallest geographical voting unit, established under 3. See Utah Code 20A-1-102

(a)

“Principal place of residence” means the single location where an individual’s habitation is fixed and to which, whenever the individual is absent, the individual has the intention of returning, as evidenced by:

(i)	the intent expressed by the individual; and

(ii)	acts of the individual that are consistent or inconsistent with the intent expressed by the individual.

(b)	“Resident” means an individual whose principal place of residence is within a specific voting precinct in Utah.

(2)	Election officials and judges shall apply the standards and requirements of this section when determining whether an individual is a resident for purposes of interpreting this title or the Utah Constitution.

(3)	An individual may request that an election official or election judge assist the individual in determining the individual’s principal place of residence for a purpose described in Subsection (2).

(4)

(a)

An individual resides in Utah if:

(i)	the individual’s principal place of residence is within Utah; and

(ii)	the individual has a present intention to maintain the individual’s principal place of residence in Utah permanently or indefinitely.

(b)	An individual resides within a particular voting precinct if, on the date of registering to vote, the individual’s principal place of residence is in that voting precinct.

(c)

An individual’s principal place of residence does not change solely because the individual is present in Utah, present in a voting precinct, absent from Utah, or absent from the individual’s voting precinct because the individual is:

(i)	employed in the service of the United States or of Utah;

(ii)	a student at an institution of learning;

(iii)

incarcerated in prison or jail; or

(iv)	residing upon an Indian or military reservation.

(d)

(i)	A member of the armed forces of the United States is not a resident of Utah merely because that member is stationed at a military facility within Utah.

(ii)	In order to be a resident of Utah, a member of the armed forces described in this Subsection (4)(d) shall meet the other requirements of this section.

(e)

(i)

Except as provided in Subsection (4)(e)(ii) or (iii), an individual does not lose the individual’s principal place of residence in Utah or a precinct if the individual moves to a foreign country, another state, or another voting precinct within Utah, for temporary purposes with the intention of returning.

(ii)	If an individual leaves the state or a voting precinct and votes or registers to vote in another state or voting precinct, the individual is no longer a resident of the state or voting precinct that the individual left.

(iii)

An individual loses the individual’s principal place of residence in Utah or in a precinct, if, after the individual moves to another state or another precinct under Subsection (4)(e)(i), the individual forms the intent of making the other state or precinct the individual’s principal place of residence.

(f)	An individual is not a resident of a county or voting precinct if the individual comes to the county or voting precinct for temporary purposes and does not intend to make that county or voting precinct the individual’s principal place of residence.

(g)	An individual loses the individual’s principal place of residence in Utah or in a precinct if the individual moves to another state or precinct with the intention of making the other state or precinct the individual’s principal place of residence.

(h)

If an individual moves to another state or precinct with the intent of remaining in the other state or precinct for an indefinite time as the individual’s principal place of residence, the individual loses the individual’s principal place of residence in Utah, or in the precinct, even though the individual intends to return at some future time.

(5)

(a)	An individual may challenge a determination by a voter, election official, or election judge of a voter’s principal place of residence, for the purpose of voting, in accordance with the applicable provisions of Sections 20A-3a-803, 20A-3a-804, and 20A-3a-805.

(b)	If an election official or election judge has reasonable, articulable grounds to question the principal place of residence of an individual for a purpose described in Subsection (2), the election official or election judge may require the individual to provide information to resolve the question.

(c)

Reasonable, articulable grounds to question an individual’s principal place of residence, and require additional information under Subsection (5)(b) include:

(i)	that the individual has a driver license or other identification from outside Utah;

(ii)	that the address claimed as the individual’s principal place of residence does not match the address on the individual’s driver license or other identification;

(iii)

that the individual owns residential property outside the location claimed as the individual’s principal place of residence; or

(iv)	other articulable grounds that would lead a reasonable individual to question an individual’s principal place of residence.

(d)

If an election official or election judge requires, under Subsection (5)(b), that an individual provide additional information, the clerk shall:

(i)	enter the voter registration into the statewide voter registration database; and

(ii)	indicate, in the statewide voter registration database, that the voter must provide additional information before the voter’s ballot may be accepted.

(6)

Subject to Subsection (10), an election official or judge who, under Subsection (5), makes a determination regarding an individual’s principal place of residence, shall, when making the determination, consider the following factors, to the extent that the factors are relevant:

(a)	where the individual’s family resides;

(b)	whether the individual is single, married, separated, or divorced;

(c)	the age of the individual;

(d)	where the individual usually sleeps;

(e)	where the individual’s minor children attend school;

(f)	the location of the individual’s employment, income sources, or business pursuits;

(g)	the location of real property owned by the individual;

(h)	the individual’s residence for purposes of taxation or tax exemption;

(i)	the location where the individual’s motor vehicles are registered;

(j)	the address for which the individual pays utility services;

(k)	the address associated with the individual’s hunting or fishing license;

(l)	the address associated with the individual’s professional licenses; and

(m)	other relevant factors.

(7)

(a)

An individual changes the individual’s principal place of residence if the individual:

(i)	acts affirmatively to move from the state or a precinct in the state; and

(ii)	has the intent to remain in another state or precinct.

(b)	An individual may not have more than one principal place of residence.

(c)	An individual does not lose the individual’s principal place of residence until the individual establishes another principal place of residence.

(d)	An individual who moves from one county in Utah to another county in Utah retains the right to vote in the county from which the individual moved for 30 days after the day on which the individual moved from the county, unless the individual votes in the new county for that election.

(e)	An individual who is homeless may, in accordance with the other provisions of this section, establish a nontraditional location, including a location without a structure, as the individual’s principal place of residence.

(8)

In computing the period that a person is a resident for a purpose described in Subsection (2), the period:

(a)	begins on the day on which the individual establishes the individual’s principal place of residence; and

(b)	ends on the day before the day of the next applicable election.

(9)

(a)

Except as provided in Subsection (12), there is a rebuttable presumption that an individual’s principal place of residence is in Utah and in the voting precinct claimed by the individual, if the individual makes an oath or affirmation upon a registration application form or declaration of candidacy that the individual’s principal place of residence is in Utah and in the voting precinct claimed by the individual.

(b)

Except as provided in Subsection (12), the election officers and election officials shall allow an individual described in Subsection (9)(a) to register and vote in the precinct for the residence claimed under Subsection (9)(a), or accept the individual’s declaration of candidacy in the district for the residence claimed under Subsection (9)(a), unless, in accordance with Subsection (5), it is shown by law or by clear and convincing evidence that:

(i)	the individual’s principal place of residence is not in Utah or not in the applicable precinct or district; or

(ii)	the individual is incarcerated in prison or jail and did not, before the individual was incarcerated in prison or jail, establish the individual’s principal place of residence in the voting precinct where the prison or jail is located.

(10)

(a)	The criteria described in this section for establishing an individual’s principal place of residence for voting purposes do not apply in relation to the individual’s location while the individual is incarcerated in prison or jail.

(b)	For voting registration purposes, the principal place of residence of an individual incarcerated in prison or jail is the state and voting precinct where the individual’s principal place of residence was located before incarceration.

(11)	If an individual’s principal place of residence is a residential parcel of one acre in size or smaller that is divided by the boundary line between two or more counties, that individual shall be considered a resident of the county in which a majority of the residential parcel lies.

(12)

(a)

If an individual seeking to become a candidate for a political office that includes a durational residency requirement has been absent from the state for a period of more than 180 consecutive days during the applicable residency period, the individual may, at the time that the candidate files a declaration of candidacy, submit evidence to the filing officer to show that the individual intended to return to the state during the time of the individual’s absence from the state.

(b)

There is a rebuttable presumption that an individual described in Subsection (12)(a) intended to return to the state during the individual’s absence if:

(i)	the individual submits evidence of the individual’s intent to the filing officer at the time that the individual files a declaration of candidacy; or

(ii)

the individual was absent from the state because the individual was:

(A)	employed in the service of the United States or of Utah;

(B)	a student at an institution of learning; or

(C)	engaged solely in religious, missionary, philanthropic, or humanitarian activities.

(c)

If a valid written objection to an individual’s declaration of candidacy is filed, there is a rebuttable presumption that an individual described in Subsection (12)(a) did not intend to return to the state during the individual’s absence if:

(i)	the individual did not submit evidence of the individual’s intent to the filing officer at the time that the individual filed a declaration of candidacy; and

(ii)	the individual’s absence from the state was not for one of the reasons described in Subsection (12)(b)(ii).

(d)	An individual must rebut the presumption described in this Subsection (12) by clear and convincing evidence.

Amended by Chapter 215, 2023 General Session

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