Committee advances bill to tighten voter-roll maintenance, data protections and limit ERIC use

The committee favorably recommended a second substitute of House Bill 332, a bill aimed at tightening voter-roll maintenance, strengthening personal-data protections and creating clearer statutory processes for list upkeep after a December 2024 legislative audit flagged inaccuracies.

Key provisions: The substitute requires the Lieutenant Governor to compare and reconcile the voter registration rolls with vital records and other state data sources, directs regular reporting to the committee on risk assessments and list-maintenance efforts, and adds new statutory data-protection language governing how personally identifiable voter information may be handled.

ERIC and data sharing: The bill also addresses the state’s contract with the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC). The sponsor told the committee that ERIC has utility for cross-state comparisons but said 10 states have withdrawn recently and that Utah should move toward clearer, contract-based, privacy-protected exchanges or other arrangements if the lieutenant governor elects to use third-party services. The bill’s language is permissive: it enables the lieutenant governor to enter agreements with other jurisdictions or vendors but includes explicit protections and reporting requirements for any data sharing.

Findings from the audit: The sponsor summarized audit findings that included potentially active records for people who appear to be deceased, duplicate driver-license numbers, and other anomalies the audit flagged as risks for duplicate or improper registrations. The audit also recommended stronger public reporting and video-surveillance requirements in ballot processing; the substitute contains related reporting and chain-of-custody language.

Public comment and technical concerns: Testimony included a mix of county clerks who urged care before leaving ERIC because the organization does supply match lists that clerks research, and voters and civic groups who expressed privacy worries about sharing state databases with third parties. Technology experts in public comment urged caution about vague language (the bill references “quantum technology” in one place) and warned that deduplication and cross-checking can be done with well-established algorithms and state-managed systems if the state builds the capability.

Votes: The committee adopted the second substitute (voice vote) and then voted to favorably recommend HB332 out of committee. A recorded vote during that process showed the committee advanced the bill (10 in favor, 3 opposed), per the committee record.

Next steps: The bill moves to the House floor. The sponsor said the lieutenant governor’s office will continue to coordinate with clerks, auditors and technical staff on data-protection language, enforcement and whether to rely on ERIC or state-managed alternatives.

Ending: The substitute ties a legislative audit’s recommendations into statute and adopts a permissive, oversight-focused approach to any future third-party data-sharing arrangements.