Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson DOJ Response Letter

July 31, 2025
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July 31, 2025

Michael E. Gates 
Deputy Assistant Attorney 
U.S. Department of Justice 
Civil Rights Division
Pennsylvania Ave, NW – 4CON
Washington, DC  20530

Dear Mr. Gates,

This is the response to your letter dated July 15, 2025. 

The state of Utah is in compliance with federal election law including NVRA, and has implemented safe, secure, and timely safeguards and processes for maintaining voter registration lists. These safeguards and processes are outlined in the Utah Election Code at Utah Code Title 20A Chapter 2.

Utah has a robust process for voter list maintenance and monthly certification from county clerks to ensure maintenance is being done. The Lieutenant Governor provides and maintains a statewide voter registration database that county clerks use to register voters and update existing voter registrations. Clean voter rolls are the foundation for secure elections and therefore need to be routinely and systematically updated. County clerks perform routine checks and list maintenance. Clerks certify list maintenance compliance to the Lieutenant Governor and to the public on a monthly basis. Among other things, the county clerks:

  • Process voter registration forms (electronic and paper) within 7 days of receipt (excluding the period between a voter registration deadline and an election canvass)
  • Verify the identity of each voter at the time of registration (Utah Code 20A-2-503(1))
  • Perform checks for and remove duplicate voters and voters who are registered in another state (Utah Code 20A-2-503(4))
  • Remove deceased voters within 5 days of receiving notice (Utah Code 20A-2-504(3))
  • Send out voter information cards to voters who have recently registered or updated their registration (Utah Code 20A-2–101.1)
  • Send confirmation cards to voters who have potentially moved or have not recently voted (Utah Code 20A-2-505)
  • 90 days before each election county clerks certify that they have performed, or will perform, a National Change of Address (NCOA) check before mailing the main ballot extract (Utah Code 20A-2-505)
  • 90 days before each election the Lieutenant Governor ensures that deceased voters have been removed from the rolls. (Utah Code 20A-2–505(7))
  • Utah participates in ERIC. A list of monthly reports that is used to help maintain the voters rolls can be found starting on page 14 of the bylaws and membership agreement (https://ericstates.org/wp-content/uploads/documents/ERIC-Bylaw-MA-FINAL.pdf). Action is taken by the county clerks on each report in the same month in which the information is received from ERIC. Please note that Utah has an exemption from the A. – Eligible but Unregistered Report

County clerks must perform an annual processing each December. Annual processing is a cleanup tool that inactivates voters who have not voted in two consecutive regular general elections and mails them a confirmation card. Additionally, it allows for the removal of voters that have not updated their voter record and have not voted in two consecutive regular general elections after receiving instructions on how to update their registration to remain on the voter rolls. 

For more information, and to view the monthly certification by county, please visit: https://vote.utah.gov/voter-list-maintenance-requirements/.

The information that was not entered into the EAVS report by our county clerks, as pointed out in your letter, is due to reporting limitations of our 25 year old legacy system. The actions behind the requested data is not available in any type of aggregated report, but is documented within each individual voter record. The Office of the Lieutenant Governor has spent considerable time over the past two weeks manually compiling the requested data. Utah is in the process of implementing a modern system with enhanced reporting capabilities that will be in place at the beginning of 2027.

Utah remains one of the most proactive states for maintaining current and accurate voter registration rolls. The reference to the EAVS report Question A12a and subsequent conclusion that “Utah has the lowest rate in the nation for voter registration records removed from the voter registration rolls” is based on incomplete data and therefore inaccurate. The statewide total of removed voters between December 1, 2022 and November 30, 2024 is 109,346. When the actual number of removed voters is used, the percentage of removals changes from 0.08% to 5.4%. Please see “Table 1” below for these numbers broken down by county.

Table 1.

Voter Registration Removals by County
CountyAnnual ProcessingCitizenshipDeceasedDuplicate RegistrantInactivityMoved Out of CountyRequested RemovalUnspecified Removed
Beaver207010122129221
Box Elder75707160076200
Cache268801275014396215517
Carbon876042931159415
Daggett16019003301
Davis5644033551112783826
Duchesne9702741025306
Emery2160196206932
Garfield150981452231
Grand153013000289515
Iron886065500286412
Juab2830147207211
Kane1120136009730
Millard16001703014431
Morgan6701462016223
Piute21036202720
Rich80351021112
Salt Lake15573311143122725157174317
San Juan559019270237232
Sanpete397043700210103
Sevier4080366009925
Summit102502750064210171
Tooele1142066600613526
Uintah87504660024726
Utah108711494311331630678
Wasatch928029504755517
Washington306302906028996842
Wayne6906000711317
Weber5645031365110571514
Total5276143280345321209984211991

The county clerks responded to A3d in the EAVS report with “Data not available” or “Does not apply,” both of which seem appropriate given the limitations of the legacy system as previously noted. Individuals with a valid drivers license can submit an unlimited number of changes to their voter registration online. The system allows the county clerk to process the most recent registration which then supersedes all the other submitted changes. The prior online changes submitted by the voter do not create or constitute a duplicate registration.  This helps prevent individuals from having more than one registration record.

Clerks run duplicate checks within the system as identified through ERIC reports on a monthly basis. These checks identify and allow the clerks to correct (merge) multiple registration records for the same voter. 4,683 records were merged during the period of 12/1/2022 – 11/30/2024. “Table 2” below has a breakdown of duplicate merged records by county:

Table 2.

Merged Records by County
CountyMerged Voter Count
Beaver12
Box Elder166
Cache189
Carbon18
Daggett7
Davis461
Duchesne50
Emery28
Garfield11
Grand20
Iron113
Juab60
Kane18
Millard37
Morgan8
Piute9
Rich4
Salt Lake1304
San Juan60
Sanpete67
Sevier37
Summit167
Tooele92
Uintah104
Utah905
Wasatch175
Washington284
Wayne19
Weber258
Total4683

In response to your inquiry regarding Questions A10b through A10f, 269,799 voters were sent a confirmation card from 12/1/2022 – 11/30/2024. Of these, 108,699 were marked by clerks as returned. The letter noted that Utah reported the number of voters removed due to returned confirmation cards was 263.7% of all the voters that were removed from the state registration list. The correct percentage is 45.4%. This discrepancy is due to the data being incomplete, rather than for the reason stated in the letter. “Table 3” below contains a breakdown of confirmation cards sent and returned by county. 

Table 3.

Returned Confirmation Cards by County
CountyCorrect addressMoved
out of jurisdiction
Moved within jurisdictionOther*Post office change addressUndeliverableTotal
Beaver2714600211114
Box Elder24144780025013492862
Cache8941672128360113146519232
Carbon10215772821439799
Daggett162015512077
Davis3652164732774458315612185
Duchesne259267181114262984
Emery473439605131
Garfield341515131078
Grand432011581282241773
Iron24036816053635242776
Juab19712486182141568
Kane5474100513176422
Millard12664105201192508
Morgan0363131051365
Piute2200004
Rich1585804682
Salt Lake61656619196733871071456932814
San Juan24686501731221651
Sanpete187725520149420
Sevier126147489903071078
Summit34848932047912921929
Tooele523606101119971672513
Uintah163201160190271814
Utah20792764907563729562920213
Wasatch178992383300548
Washington4621621241094201517917
Wayne108520227
Weber5051675474422566607815
Total209311854228838646039633532108699

*Other includes all returned confirmation cards where the reason for the confirmation return was not recorded correctly. 

As for your request for numbers of ineligible voters, the numbers for the period you request are as follows:

  1. Non-citizen
    • Four voters were given a status of “removable” due to a change to a non-citizen status between 12/1/2022 – 11/30/2024.
  2. Adjudicated incompetent
    • Zero voters have been removed from the voter rolls due to incompetence. 
  3. Felony conviction
    • The total number of voters who were made removable due to being incarcerated felons between 12/1/2022 – 11/30/2024 was 4,225. 

As for your request for the statewide voter registration database, attached is the most current version of the public statewide voter registration list. The list contains two files. One file is the list of registered voters, the other contains vote history. The top row of each file are column identifiers.

A list of the 29 Utah county clerks can be found at: https://vote.utah.gov/contact-your-county-election-officials/. The director of elections, Ryan Cowley, can address questions or concerns relating to maintenance of the statewide voter registration system that county clerks use.

Sincerely,

​​​Deidre M. Henderson
Lieutenant Governor
State of Utah