S.B. 35

1

VOTER RESIDENCE WHERE LOT IS
2 DIVIDED BY COUNTY BOUNDARY LINE
3 2002 GENERAL SESSION
4 STATE OF UTAH
5 Sponsor: Carlene M. Walker
6 This act modifies the Election Code to provide for the determination of residency for voting
7 purposes when a person's residence is divided by a county boundary line. The act provides
8 an effective date.
9 This act affects sections of Utah Code Annotated 1953 as follows:
10 AMENDS:
11 20A-2-105, as last amended by Chapter 3, Laws of Utah 1996, Second Special Session
12 Be it enacted by the Legislature of the state of Utah:
13 Section 1. Section 20A-2-105 is amended to read:
14 20A-2-105. Determining residency.
15 (1) Except as provided in Subsection (4), election officials and judges shall apply the
16 standards and requirements of this section when determining whether or not a person is a resident
17 for purposes of interpreting this title or the Utah constitution.
18 (2) A "resident" is a person who resides within a specific voting precinct in Utah.
19 (3) (a) A person resides in Utah if the person:
20 (i) has his principal place of residence within Utah; and
21 (ii) has a present intention to continue residency within Utah permanently or indefinitely.
22 (b) A person resides within a particular voting precinct if the person has, or will have as
23 of the date of the election, his principal place of residence in the voting precinct.
24 (4) (a) The principal place of residence of any person shall be determined by applying the
25 rules contained in this Subsection (4).
26 (b) A person's "principal place of residence" is that place in which the person's habitation
27 is fixed and to which, whenever he is absent, he has the intention of returning.

28 (c) A person has not gained or lost a residence solely because he is present in Utah or in
29 a voting precinct or absent from Utah or his voting precinct because he is:
30 (i) employed in the service of the United States or of Utah;
31 (ii) a student at any institution of learning;
32 (iii) incarcerated in prison or jail; or
33 (iv) residing upon any Indian or military reservation.
34 (d) (i) A member of the armed forces of the United States is not a resident of Utah merely
35 because that member is stationed at any military facility within Utah.
36 (ii) In order to be a resident of Utah, that member must meet the other requirements of this
37 section.
38 (e) (i) Except as provided in Subsection (4)(e)(ii), a person has not lost his residence if that
39 person leaves his home to go into a foreign country or into another state or into another voting
40 precinct within Utah for temporary purposes with the intention of returning.
41 (ii) If that person has voted in that state or voting precinct, the person is a resident of that
42 state or voting precinct.
43 (f) A person is not a resident of any county or voting precinct if that person comes for
44 temporary purposes without intending to make that county his home.
45 (g) If a person removes to another state with the intention of making it his principal place
46 of residence, he loses his residence in Utah.
47 (h) If a person moves to another state with the intent of remaining there for an indefinite
48 time as a place of permanent residence, he loses his residence in Utah, even though he intends to
49 return at some future time.
50 (i) (i) Except as provided in Subsection (4)(i)(ii) the place where a person's family resides
51 is presumed to be his place of residence.
52 (ii) A person may rebut the presumption established in Subsection (4)(i)(i) by proving his
53 intent to remain at a place other than where his family resides.
54 (j) (i) A person has changed his residence if:
55 (A) the person has acted affirmatively to remove himself from one geographic location;
56 and
57 (B) the person has an intent to remain in another place.
58 (ii) There can only be one residence.

59 (iii) A residence cannot be lost until another is gained.
60 (5) In computing the period of residence, a person shall:
61 (a) include the day on which the person's residence begins; and
62 (b) exclude the day of the next election.
63 (6) (a) There is a presumption that a person is a resident of Utah and a voting precinct and
64 intends to remain in Utah permanently or indefinitely if the person makes an oath or affirmation
65 upon a registration application form that his residence address and place of residence is within a
66 specific voting precinct in Utah.
67 (b) The election officers and election officials shall allow that person to register and vote
68 unless, upon a challenge by the satellite registrar or some other person, it is shown by law or by
69 clear and compelling evidence that:
70 (i) the person does not intend to remain permanently or indefinitely in Utah; or
71 (ii) the person is incarcerated in prison or jail.
72 (7) (a) The rules set forth in this section for determining place of residence for voting
73 purposes do not apply to a person incarcerated in prison or jail.
74 (b) For voting registration purposes, a person incarcerated in prison or jail is considered
75 to reside in the voting precinct in which his place of residence was located before incarceration.
76 (8) If a person's principal place of residence is a residential parcel of one acre in size or
77 smaller that is divided by the boundary line between two or more counties, that person shall be
78 considered a resident of the county in which a majority of the residential parcel lies.
79 Section 2. Effective date.
80 If approved by two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, this act takes effect
81 upon approval by the governor, or the day following the constitutional time limit of Utah
82 Constitution Article VII, Section 8, without the governor's signature, or in the case of a veto, the
83 date of veto override.




Legislative Review Note
as of 10-31-01 7:21 AM

A limited legal review of this legislation raises no obvious constitutional or statutory concerns.

Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel

Committee Note

The Political Subdivisions Interim Committee recommended this bill.