1. United States
2. Utah
3. Letter

As your constituent, I respectfully ask that you VETO HB209, Voting Amendments, sponsored by Representative Maloy. HB209 will require voters to provide proof of citizenship to vote, potentially disenfranchising thousands of eligible voters in Utah who lack easy access to the required documentation, such as a U.S. passport or a copy of their birth certificate. HB209 will likely have a high impact on eligible voters who are women, seniors, have lower incomes, and live in our rural communities. This bill would make it harder to vote for married women and others who have changed their names. According to the Center for American Progress, as of 2024, nearly 700,000 Utah women have a birth certificate that no longer matches their current name, the vast majority of whom changed their name after marriage. It would have the same effect on lower-income voters, young people, seniors, and anyone else who does not travel internationally or has neither the time nor the means to obtain a passport. Over 1 million people – 40% of Utahns– did not have a valid passport as of 2024. HB209 is a sweeping, significant change to our voting laws that could prevent tens of thousands of Utahns from exercising their fundamental right to vote. When Kansas enacted a similar law, 31,000 eligible voters were prevented from voting and the law was ultimately found to be an unconstitutional burden on voting rights. Supporters of HB209 say that the bill will prevent non-citizens from voting, but that is already illegal, and Utah’s county clerks have effective procedures in place to avoid such a thing from happening. In reality, HB209 would only make it harder, or altogether prevent, eligible Utahns from exercising their right to vote by requiring everyone to provide documents that can be hard and expensive to obtain, while also subjecting our county clerks to an additional administrative burden redundant to the processes they already have in place. I urge you to VETO HB209, Voting Amendments, and to protect voting access for all eligible Utahns. Petition courtesy of ACLU.