Utah Republicans are back with a familiar idea: make voting in state races harder than voting for president. The latest vehicle is HB209, which would split Utah’s electorate into two tracks—full ballots for those who show citizenship papers, and federal-only ballots for everyone else.
⏰ Tick Tock
24 days - Signature deadline for ballot initiative seeking to repeal Prop. 4 (2/14/2026)
44 days - The final day of the 2026 Utah Legislature (3/6/2026)
47 days - First day congressional candidates can file to run for the 2026 election. (3/9/2026)
55 days - Neighborhood caucus night. (3/17/2026)
80 days - Utah Forward Party nominating convention (4/11/2026)
94 days - Utah State Republican and Democratic State Party nominating conventions (4/25/2026)
153 days - Utah's 2026 primary election (6/23/2026)
286 days - 2026 midterm elections (11/3/2026)
1,021 days - 2028 presidential election (11/7/2028)
For the second year in a row, a Utah lawmaker wants voters to prove they’re U.S. citizens before they can cast a full ballot in state and local races.
HB209 from Rep. Cory Maloy, R-Lehi, requires people who intend to vote in Utah state elections to provide proof of U.S. citizenship (examples listed in the bill include a Utah driver’s license or ID, a birth certificate, a passport, naturalization papers, or certain tribal documents). If you only want to vote in federal contests, no extra paperwork.
This means election officials must produce two ballots for elections involving federal offices. One “standard” ballot with every race and proposition, and a stripped-down “federal ballot” with only Congress, U.S. Senate and President.
HB209 allows election officers to challenge a registered voter’s citizenship status if they have “reason to believe” that the individual is not a citizen based on information from a government entity. The bill doesn’t list which government databases would be used—or what evidence clears the “reason to believe” bar.
When a voter’s citizenship is challenged, the election officer must notify the person in writing, and explain the reason for the determination. The voter is given a chance to refute that determination within a “reasonable time-frame,” but the beal doesn’t define “reasonable.”
If the voter does not successfully rebut the determination that they may not be a citizen, they are then removed from Utah’s voter rolls and barred from voting in future elections unless they produce the right documents.
HB209 sets up a system similar to Arizona’s, which requires voters to provide proof of citizenship if they want to vote using a full ballot. Courts have ruled that Arizona cannot require documentary proof of citizenship to vote in federal races but can require documentation to vote in state elections.
Currently, seven states have passed laws requiring some form of proof of citizenship to register or update registration.
Last year, Rep. Karianne Lisonbee, R-Clearfield, sponsored legislation that also required proof of citizenship if a voter wanted to vote in state-level races. Lisonbee has repeatedly claimed that she has proof of non-citizens voting in Utah elections but refuses to share that information with election officials or the public.
The original version of HB332 also attempted to end Utah’s participation in the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC), a nonprofit organization that helps states maintain accurate voter databases to help prevent fraud. It also included a bizarre provision apparently designed to give a noted election conspiracy theorist access to Utah’s voter file. Those provisions were stripped out of the final version of her bill, which died without a vote in the Senate.
Maloy’s bill is on the agenda for the House Government Operations Committee Wednesday afternoon.