The Utah House of Representatives voted to approve a bill that requires voters to show proof of citizenship prior to registering. The sponsor of the bill, Cory Maloy, said the bill was proposed to help protect citizens.
“This bill is about fairness,” said Maloy. “It’s about due process and it’s about respect for our laws, for our elections, our U.S. and Utah Constitutions and for those who work hard to earn the privilege of citizenship.”
Currently, 99.9% of Utah voters are U.S. citizens.
“I think it’s important that we only have people who should be voting in elections voting in elections. But as the recent audit pointed out, this isn’t really an issue that needs solving,” Representative Sahara Hayes said. “Here in Utah, we had only one noncitizen on our voter rolls and they did not vote.”
According to KSL, most voters show their driver’s licenses as identification when voting, and in order to obtain a Utah driver license, proof of citizenship is required.
Author: Lainey Porter
Photo courtesy of Rick Bowmer, AP News
Editor: Hannah Clove
news@suunews.net
