The Utah legislature adjourned for the year on the evening of February 5. SB 126 failed to pass the House. It had passed the Senate unanimously in January 2008.

The bill would have forced declared write-in candidates to pay the same filing fee that ballot-listed candidates must pay (only “paupers” are exempt). Utah filing fees are high. For U.S. Senate, for example, they are approximately $1,200.

The probable reason for the bill’s failure to pass, was that I e-mailed all the Utah House members that similar filing fees for write-in candidates had been declared unconstitutional in federal court in Maryland and West Virginia, and by state court in California. Also the Utah ACLU helped circulate this information.

The basis for these court decisions is the principle that the only permissible reason for filing fees is to keep ballots from being too crowded. Normally, governments cannot require either voters or candidates to pay money, in order to vote or to run for office. Despite this general rule, filing fees are permitted (for those who can afford them) because they are needed for the compelling reason of keeping ballots uncluttered. But fees on write-ins obviously don’t relate to that purpose.