{"id":68734,"date":"2025-01-06T18:06:01","date_gmt":"2025-01-06T23:06:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/?p=68734"},"modified":"2025-01-08T12:41:28","modified_gmt":"2025-01-08T17:41:28","slug":"utah-election-laws-privacy-transparency-conflict","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/utah-election-laws-privacy-transparency-conflict\/","title":{"rendered":"Utah&#8217;s conflicting election laws put officials in &#8216;untenable position,&#8217; says outgoing state auditor"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Following a review last summer of Utah\u2019s election process, the state auditor on Friday published <a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/25479489-1-3-25-osa-letter-to-lg-re-election-process\/\">a report<\/a> revealing several legal conflicts and concerns around how to protect voters\u2019 data privacy while keeping the process transparent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Utah State Auditor John Dougall\u2019s office conducted the review after receiving numerous complaints from the public, according to a news release. The office reviewed the candidate petition signature verification process, and legal controls over the disclosure of voter registration data found in election code and the state\u2019s open records law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dougall, whose term ended Monday, said the state\u2019s laws create \u201cinconsistencies\u201d regarding the protection of certain personal data, treating similar voter data differently depending whether it\u2019s in the state\u2019s election database or on a candidate\u2019s petition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Utah\u2019s report comes as many states contend with how to protect personal data. Several new <a href=\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/tag\/privacy\/\">comprehensive data privacy laws<\/a> go into effect this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Utah\u2019s report, addressed to Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson, identified several areas for improvement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The state\u2019s voter registration form requires residents to provide a name, address, birthday, driver license number or state identification number and the last four digits of their Social Security number. This information, including voter signature, is stored in a statewide database used by election officials across the state, called the Voter Information and State Tracking Application, or VISTA. However, access to VISTA is primarily governed by the state\u2019s public records law, called the Government Records Access and Management Act, or GRAMA, and anyone can request access to data held there through a public records request.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In Utah, certain, non-private voter data \u2014 including name, address, party affiliation, voting participation history, last registration update date, county, precinct and district \u2014 are accessible through a GRAMA request, according to the report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The state\u2019s election code allows Utah voters to request to have their voter registration data classified as private if they meet certain requirements, such as submitting proof they have been or will be a victim of domestic violence. But, private data can still sometimes be accessed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Both GRAMA and the state\u2019s election code allow election officials to sometimes disclose private voter registration data to \u201cqualified persons,\u201d which can include government employees, political parties, candidates for public office, their employees, independent contractors or volunteers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Additionally, the report notes that the data voters share when they sign candidate petitions for access to a primary ballot \u2014 which includes a name, signature and address \u2014 have differing levels of protection under GRAMA. For voters who haven\u2019t requested their registration data to be classified as private, GRAMA allows names and signatures to be released under public records law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to the report, Utah\u2019s statewide election office received requests for the list of voters who signed petitions in the most recent election cycle, as well as requests to view original signed petitions. Under Election Code and GRAMA, the office only provided a list of the names of voters who had not requested their registration information be classified as private, and only allowed requesters to view voter signatures on the petitions, instead of making copies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhile this position appears to comply with the provisions of GRAMA and the Election Code, it illustrates a gap in the transparency statute for the Petition signature verification process, the report read. \u201cIt also highlights inconsistencies between transparency efforts over the election process and how similar information is treated under different sections of the Election Code. In particular, we note the inconsistency between the rigid protection over voter names and signatures when it comes to observing Petition information and signature verification versus the rather broad disclosure allowed by statute for voter registration data.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Interference with transparency could weaken \u201cthe public\u2019s trust in the integrity and reliability of that election process,\u201d the report noted. The auditor\u2019s office recommended lawmakers make changes in the upcoming legislative session. Dougall said the conflicting statutes put election officials in \u201can untenable position.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt is unclear how election officials can avoid compromising privacy for transparency,\u201d Dougall said in a press release. \u201cFurthermore, voters who request privacy protections for their voter registration records may be lulled into a false sense of security, given how freely that data may be shared and the lack of any follow-up to ensure sensitive data is protected.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Maintaining privacy and transparency while storing voter registration data is a challenge for many states. Each state has its own unique laws regarding which <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncsl.org\/elections-and-campaigns\/access-to-and-use-of-voter-registration-lists\">voter registration data<\/a> is made public, who is eligible to request it, what information can be disclosed and how the information may be used. Like Utah, many other states have programs that allow people to request that their records be made confidential.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A new report from Utah State Auditor John Dougall shows that inconsistent privacy laws and conflicts with transparency mandates are challenging state officials.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":205,"featured_media":68736,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"disable_grayscale_images":true,"grayscale_contrast":0,"sponsored_content":false,"display_author_bio":true,"story_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4677],"tags":[25132,25131,25058,4218,3973,251,181,128],"people":[],"special-report":[],"authors":[23807],"class_list":["post-68734","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-state","tag-government-news","tag-technology-news","tag-audits","tag-government-transparency","tag-state-government","tag-privacy","tag-utah","tag-elections","author-kquinlan"],"yoast_head":"<!-- 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