In the future, you may have the option to make certain your voter information is not accessible by the general public. Utah’s House of Representatives approved legislation on Tuesday, on a vote of 71-2, that will allow the public to request that their voter information be kept private. The bill, H.B. 302, also calls for birth dates to be unavailable when someone purchases Utah’s voter rolls, but the records would still list a voter’s age. “I believe strongly an individual should not have to trade their constitutional right to vote in order to ensure their privacy,” said Rep. Becky Edwards, R-North Salt Lake. Edwards explained that the legislation comes as a direct result to a website that surfaced earlier this year that contains the whole Utah voter roll on it.
Edwards used that website to gather the personal information of all 75 House members and offered to show each member all of the information she had on them if they came to her desk on the House floor.
The data that can be obtained on the website could include a voter’s address, telephone, birth date, which elections they voted in and what party they are registered to. Edwards warned that the data could be used by sexual predators who are attempting to find past victims.
Currently the whole voter list can be purchased by anyone from the state of Utah for $1,050.
Full Article: House approves bill to change access to Utah voter rolls.