2020 Utah elections explained

Utah state elections in 2020 were held on Tuesday, November 3, 2020. Aside from its presidential primaries held on March 3, its primary elections were held on June 30, 2020.^[1]

In addition to the U.S. presidential race, Utah voters elected the Governor of Utah, 9 seats of its Board of Education, four of Utah's other executive officers, all of its seats to the House of Representatives, all of the seats of the Utah House of Representatives, and 15 of 29 seats in the Utah State Senate. Neither of the state's two U.S. Senate seats were up for election. Seven ballot measures were voted on.^[1]

Federal offices

President of the United States

See main article: 2020 United States presidential election in Utah and 2020 Utah Democratic presidential primary.

Utah, a stronghold for the Republican Party and thus a reliable "red state", has six electoral votes in the Electoral College. Donald Trump won with 58.13% of the vote to Joe Biden's 37.65%. On December 14, 2020, Utah cast its electoral votes for Donald Trump.

United States House of Representatives

See main article: 2020 United States House of Representatives elections in Utah.

All four of Utah's seats in the U.S. House of Representatives were up for election. The Republican Party candidates won all four seats, with the party gaining the 4th congressional district seat from the Democratic Party.

Governor

See main article: 2020 Utah gubernatorial election. Incumbent lieutenant governor Spencer Cox ran against University of Utah law professor and former CFPB official Christopher Peterson. Cox was elected to be Governor of Utah. He was elected with 64.3% of the vote.

Attorney general

See main article: 2020 Utah Attorney General election.

Incumbent Republican attorney general Sean Reyes was elected for a third term with 60.6% of the vote in the general election. In the Republican primary, he faced challenger David O. Leavitt (Utah County attorney) after former attorney general John Swallow withdrew from the race.^[2]

In the Democratic primary, attorney and ex-small claims court judge Greg Skordas, who was the Democratic nominee for the attorney general election in 2004, ran unopposed (following the withdrawal of Kevin Probasco). Rudy Bautista ran as a Libertarian.^[2]

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee

• Sean Reyes, incumbent

Eliminated in the primary

• David Leavitt

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size	Margin of error	David Leavitt	Sean Reyes	John Swallow	Undecided
Suffolk University/Salt Lake Tribune[3]	June 4–7, 2020	500 (LV)	± 4.4%	26%		30.8%	–		43.2%
Y2 Analytics/UtahPolicy/KUTV 2 News[4] https://www.utpoliticaltrends.com/results	May 9–15, 2020	581 (LV)	–	40%		60%	–	–
Y2 Analytics/UtahPolicy/KUTV 2 News[5] https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5d092137e4cbcd000197be6e/t/5eaa21152790182e187da07f/1588207894034/Utah+Policy+Survey+Topline+Report+-+030420+with+Primary+Weights+FPR.pdf	March 21–30, 2020	704 (LV)	–	32%		54%	15%	–

Results

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

• Greg Skordas

Eliminated at the convention

• Kevin Probasco

Polling

General election

Results

Auditor

State Board of Education

District 3

Results

District 4

Results

District 7

Results

District 8

Results

District 10

Republican nomination

Convention

Republican convention results
Candidate	Round 1		Round 2
	Votes	%	Votes	%
David Linford		%
Molly Hart		%
Jeffrey Ferlo		%	colspan=2 style="text-align:center;"
Inactive ballots	0 ballots		0 ballots

Primary

Results

District 11

Results

District 12

Republican convention

Republican convention results[7]
Candidate	Round 1 & 2		Round 3
	Votes	%	Votes	%
James Moss	171	56.2%
Lorri-Sue Blunt	71	23.4%	83	28.3%
Joe Rivest	62	20.4%	colspan=2 style="text-align:center;"
Inactive ballots	0 ballots		11 ballots

Results

District 13

Republican nomination

Convention

Republican convention results
Candidate	Round 1		Round 2
	Votes	%	Votes	%
Randy Boothe		%
Alyson Williams		%
Jeff Rust		%	colspan=2 style="text-align:center;"
Inactive ballots	0 ballots		0 ballots

Primary

Results

District 15

Republican nomination

Convention

Republican convention results
Candidate	Round 1		Round 2
	Votes	%	Votes	%
Scott F. Smith	140	45.6%
Kristan Norton	112	36.5%
Dale M Brinkerhoff	55	17.9%	colspan=2 style="text-align:center;"
Inactive ballots	0 ballots		8 ballots

Primary

Results

State legislature

All 75 seats of the Utah House of Representatives and 15 of 29 seats of the Utah State Senate were up for election. Before the election the composition of the Utah State Legislature was:

State senate

Party		of seats
	Republican	23
	Democratic	6
Total		29

House of Representatives

Party		of seats
	Republican	59
	Democratic	16
Total		75

After the election, the composition was:

State senate

Party		of seats
	Republican	23
	Democratic	6
Total		29

House of Representatives

Party		of seats
	Republican	58
	Democratic	17
Total		75

State Judiciary

Utah Court of Appeals

Ballot measures

Measure SJR 9 is a state constitutional amendment to allow income tax to fund programs for children and people with disabilities.^[8]

Amendment A

See main article: Utah Gender-Neutral Constitutional Language Amendment.

Amendment B

Amendment C

Amendment D

Amendment E

Amendment F

Amendment G

Voting Information

The 2020 election took place against a backdrop of uncertainty. The following data tables highlight voter registration rules, in-person voting procedures, and absentee voting procedures relevant to the November 3, 2020, general election in the state of Utah.

Voter registration in Utah[10]
Registration URL	[11]
Registration status URL	[12]
Registration update URL	[13]
In-person registration deadline	October 23, 2020
Mail registration deadline	October 23, 2020
Mail postmark or receipt deadline	Received
Online registration deadline	October 23, 2020
Same-day registration	Yes
Early voting same-day registration	Yes

In-person voting in Utah
All voters required to show ID	Yes
ID types	[14]
ID source URL	[15]
Early voting start date	October 20, 2020
Early voting end date	October 30, 2020
Weekend voting?	Yes
Early voting source URL	[16]
Election Day poll times	7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Absentee voting in Utah
Are there limits on who can request a ballot?	No
Mail request deadline	N/A
Request postmark or receipt deadline	N/A
Mail return deadline	November 2, 2020
Return postmark or receipt deadline	Postmarked
Notary/witness requirements	No requirement

Notes

Partisan clients

External links

• • • Web site: League of Women Voters of Utah . (state affiliate of the U.S. League of Women Voters)

Notes and References

1. Web site: Utah elections, 2020. Ballotpedia . June 13, 2020 .
2. Web site: Politics1 . UTAH. June 13, 2020 .
3. https://www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2020/06/11/poll-gop-utah-attorney/ Suffolk University/Salt Lake Tribune
4. https://utahpolicy.com/index.php/features/today-at-utah-policy/23887-reyes-has-big-lead-over-leavitt-in-gop-race-for-ag-according-to-new-poll Y2 Analytics/UtahPolicy/KUTV 2 News
5. https://utahpolicy.com/index.php/features/today-at-utah-policy/23587-reyes-skordas-hold-big-leads-in-race-gop-democratic-attorney-general-nominations Y2 Analytics/UtahPolicy/KUTV 2 News
6. https://www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2020/09/16/utah-debate-commission Lighthouse Research/Salt Lake Tribune
7. Web site: State Board of Education - District 12.
8. Web site: Utah Political Trends Panel March 2020. Y2 Analytics . June 29, 2020 . March 30, 2020 .
9. https://utahpolicy.com/index.php/features/today-at-utah-policy/23694-poll-voters-are-not-yet-sold-on-constitutional-amendment-to-change-school-funding Y2 Analytics/UtahPolicy/KUTV 2 News
10. Web site: Utah elections, 2020. 2021-01-30. Ballotpedia. en.
11. https://secure.utah.gov/voterreg/login.html?selection=REGISTER Link
12. https://votesearch.utah.gov/voter-search/search/search-by-voter/voter-info Link
13. https://secure.utah.gov/voterreg/login.html?selection=UPDATE Link
14. https://ballotpedia.org/Utah_elections,_2020 Link
15. https://voteinfo.utah.gov/voter-id-requirements/ Link
16. https://votesearch.utah.gov/voter-search/search/search-by-address/how-and-where-can-i-vote Link