Lawmaker Hopes to Lift Alcohol Restrictions on Election Day

None by KCPW

(KCPW News) A Utah law dating back to the early 1900s prohibits liquor from being sold or served on Election Day. Originally it was meant to prevent politicians from bribing voters with free drinks or inebriating them to influence their vote. Nowadays people can vote early or absentee long before Election Day - which makes the alcohol prohibition pointless to State Senator Scott McCoy:

"I can drink while I'm filling out my absentee ballot, yet on Election Day, it's different. I just doesn't make any sense," says McCoy. "And it's bad for small business and restaurant owners who lose out on revenue because they can't serve someone a drink with their meal on Election Day."

According to Utah law, state liquor stores are closed on primary, general and special statewide elections. Restaurants can't sell liquor, wine or heavy beer until the polls close. McCoy is drafting a measure to repeal that law like many other states have. He calls it the latest in his "quest to clear Utah's codebook of antiquated laws." But it means opening the state's alcoholic beverage laws for amendment - and that's been known to give his tee-totaling Capitol Hill colleagues heartburn.

"Personally I'd rather stick with the status quo," says
State Senator Wayne Niederhauser, who sits on the legislative committee that reviews alcohol laws.

According to regulatory director Earl Dorius of the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, the no-booze on Election Day law has been on Utah's books since at least 1935. Such laws were not uncommon among states when saloons played a central role in town life and were sometimes even used as election polling locations.

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