A Utah lawmaker is pursuing legislation meant to make sure noncitizens can’t vote in state elections.
Utah Rep. Karianne Lisonbee, R-Syracuse, said that since proposing legislation earlier this year focused on cleaning Utah’s voter rolls, she’s heard at least two reports of noncitizens successfully registering to vote or voting in Utah elections.
“It has been beyond surprising, actually,” she said.
It’s got her renewing efforts to craft legislation on the topic — HB332, debated during the 2025 session earlier this year, stalled — and she hopes her proposal gets attention during a planned special session next month. Essentially, her proposal would require that those registering to vote provide documentation proving they’re U.S. citizens, similar to laws on the books in four other states, she said.
“Just making sure that voters’ will is reflected in elections is my goal, and I think it’s everybody’s goal in this room, right? We just don’t want to have elections ... where people are turning an election and they shouldn’t,” she said at a forum Monday in Layton on the immigration issue. As it stands, she said, her research shows that the signature of someone attesting to be a U.S. citizen on a voter-registration form “is treated as proof of citizenship in the state of Utah.”
Lisonbee said she was able to confirm via a state voter database that two noncitizens were registered to vote and that one had actually voted. A third person she heard speak at a Salt Lake County gathering said he was told by a local official when he inquired several years ago into voting that he could register to vote, even though he was not a U.S. citizen.
“He was interested in finding out about voting, and the woman at the front desk replied, ‘You can register to vote right now as long as you have an ID that shows that you’re at least 18 years old,’” Lisonbee said. He said he was a noncitizen; the woman checked into the matter with a superior and returned to say he could register, though he ultimately didn’t.
Lisonbee faulted the lack of clarity in current Utah law on the matter. Lack of clear-cut wording has prompted an interpretation from election officials that a signature on a voter-registration document affirming U.S. citizenship amounts to “proof of citizenship.”
Per her proposal, Lisonbee said those who are “REAL ID compliant with citizenship documentation” would be able to get on the Utah and federal voter rolls. The federal REAL ID Act sets certain standards in issuing state driver’s licenses.
HB332 was focused on removing Utah from a national voter roll maintenance system, the Eric Registration Information Center, or ERIC. It also contained a provision about requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote. Her new proposal would be focused only on assuring U.S. citizenship of those registering.