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Committee advances substitute for citizenship‑verification bill after lengthy debate and amendments
Summary
After hours of testimony and public comment, the Government Operations Committee adopted a substitute to HB 209—requiring processes to verify voter U.S. citizenship for state ballots—and, with a privacy amendment, voted to favorably recommend the substitute as amended.
The Government Operations Committee on Tuesday advanced the first substitute to House Bill 209, a measure that would require election officers to follow a process for verifying whether registered voters are U.S. citizens for the purpose of state and local ballots. The committee adopted a privacy amendment that classifies submitted proof of citizenship and a voter’s citizenship status in the registration system as private records before passing the substitute by recorded voice votes.
Sponsor Representative Malloy said the bill is designed to ensure that only U.S. citizens can vote in Utah state elections and to give election officials tools to verify citizenship. He and witnesses described several verification methods that would be used in practice, including information from the driver license division, the SAVE database (Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements), naturalization documents and an alien registration number for those who recently naturalized. Malloy said once a person provides acceptable proof of citizenship, that verification would be recorded so they would not need to repeatedly re-prove status.
Committee members and outside witnesses pressed the bill on operational details and civil‑rights implications. Representative Romero and others warned about potential disparate impacts on Native communities, seniors, students and people with disabilities; critics including the League of Women Voters and Mormon Women for Ethical Government urged caution and noted experiences in Arizona and Kansas where similar reforms produced administrative burdens and litigation. Supportive testimony from county clerks and the Lieutenant Governor’s office emphasized existing tools and the importance of balancing access and integrity: Ryan Kelly, director of elections in the lieutenant governor’s office, said the office is conducting an ongoing audit of registrations to identify any noncitizens in the rolls and had confirmed a small number of noncitizen registrations under investigation.
Under the substitute and the amendment adopted during the meeting, a voter who has not previously provided documentary proof of U.S. citizenship may be issued a provisional or federal‑only ballot while they have a cure period to submit proof for the state portion of the ballot. Witnesses and clerks discussed operational issues: some counties use the SAVE service and driver license flags extensively, but county clerks said SAVE access is uneven statewide and in one county spot checks of foreign-born registrants returned a small set of ambiguous matches that required follow‑up documentation.
Representative Perucci moved to adopt the first substitute and later moved that the committee favorably recommend the substitute as amended; after discussion and summations the committee voted to pass the substitute out of committee. Committee members who registered 'no' in the recorded roll/voice included Representative Stoddard and Representative Romero; several others recorded 'yes.' The committee directed continued coordination between county clerks, the lieutenant governor’s office and the sponsor on implementation details and training for on‑site election workers.
The committee’s recommendation sends the amended substitute to the next House stage for further consideration.
