Utah is one of eight states which allows for universal voting by mail. But, within months of President Donald Trump taking office again, the state’s Republican-led Legislature passed a law to begin moving away from that system.
Now, as many of those lawmakers face reelection, postal workers are launching a campaign to remind Utahns of the value they see in vote-by-mail.
In a TV ad that began airing in Utah on Thursday, a series of Americans who volunteered to be in the commercial — a nurse, a farmer, a firefighter, a young mother, a disabled woman — explain why they need to cast their ballot through the mail.
“With Utah having a rich tradition of vote-by-mail, we couldn’t think of a better place than Utah to run this ad,” Utah Postal Workers Union President Amy Parke said at a Thursday news conference.
Union leaders emphasized that the campaign is nonpartisan, and their union supports any politicians who champion the postal service.
Utah’s by-mail election system is popular. A poll commissioned by the union concluded that 93% of Utahns use the ballots they receive in their mailboxes.
Read the full article by Emily Anderson Stern at sltrib.com.
This article is published through the Utah News Collaborative, a partnership of news organizations in Utah that aims to inform readers across the state.