Today at 4 p.m. Utah lawmakers will convene for a special legislative session to consider a bill detailing Gov. Spencer Cox's plan that would move municipal election dates to accommodate the special primary and general elections needed to replace the retiring Rep. Chris Stewart.
Though the special elections are set to be held at the same time as municipal elections, they are predicted to carry a hefty $2.5 million price tag.
Lawmakers are being asked to shift the municipal primary from Aug. 15 to Sept. 5, and the general municipal election from Nov. 7 to Nov. 21, as well as appropriate $2.5 million for the congressional elections on those days, including $400,000 for voter outreach.
“Honestly, this is unprecedented. We’ve never done this before, moving entire elections, municipal primary and general election dates,” said Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson, whose office oversees elections in the state.
She said it would have cost “almost nothing” to add the congressional primary and general elections in a regular election year, when all of the counties already would be running elections. But that’s not the case in a nonpartisan municipal election year.
Read more about the effect the special Congressional elections will have on cities that had not planned on holding a primary this year and how the state plans to help.
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