Utah governor signs bill to phase out state's universal mail ballot system

Utah Republican Gov. Spencer Cox signed a bill into law Wednesday that will phase out the state's universal vote-by-mail system.

Under the new law, registered voters will have to opt in to receive a mail ballot instead of automatically receiving one, starting in 2029. Voting rights advocates said it marks the first time a state has rolled back a universal mail-in voting policy.

Utah is one of eight states with a universal mail ballot system, and the only one of the group that is solidly Republican.

The move is also the latest example of Republicans seeking to advance voting restrictions, both at the state and national levels. In the years following the 2020 election as President Donald Trump and his allies began aggressively perpetuating false claims of  voter fraud, several Republican-led states have enacted restrictive new voting laws, including stricter photo ID requirements.

On Wednesday, Trump signed a sweeping executive order seeking to require people to prove their citizenship when they register to vote. Trump has at times also called for an end to mail-in voting. His latest executive order also requires that all ballots must be received by Election Day, an attempt to supersede states that allow mail ballots that are postmarked by Election Day to be counted afterward.

Under the law signed by Cox, voters will be required, starting in 2029, to opt in to a new system to receive and then send back a mail-in ballot. Voters can opt in to the new system when they apply for or renew a driver’s license or state identification card, or when they vote in person.

Utah's new law also changes the deadline for when a ballot must be sent in.

It requires that county election officials only count ballots that have been received before 8 p.m. local time on an Election Day. Previously, county elections officials had been permitted to count all ballots postmarked through the day before Election Day, as long as the ballot arrived in the mail up until two weeks after Election Day.

The changes take Utah off the list of states that use a universal mail-in ballot system. The others are Nevada, Colorado, Washington, California, Hawaii, Oregon and Vermont, as well as Washington, D.C.

Critics of the new law Cox signed said that the changes are likely to make it more difficult for voters in rural areas to cast votes.

“Universal mail voting was enormously popular in Utah because it gave voters more freedom and flexibility to vote. Utah is now the first and only state to roll back a universal mail voting system. Voters, especially those in rural areas, will bear the brunt of this restrictive move,” Chris Diaz, director of legislative tracking at the Voting Rights Lab, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that tracks voting and state election bills, said in an email.

Cox, for his part, has praised the bill as “brilliant,” claiming it will “restore trust” among voters in the elections system.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com