The Salt Lake Tribune comes out against voter-suppression tactics with an editorial entitled “The Right to Vote.”  Sounds good, except for the fact that this activity isn’t voter suppression rather prudent voter registration list maintenance.  This editorial is really misleading and a disservice to Utah citizens.  Apparently, the paper believes it is a fundamental right to be on the voting rolls even though you have long since moved or no longer eligible to vote in a certain district.  But give them credit, they were able to work in their opposition to voter ID and cite the Brennan Center report – wholly separate issues. 

As a voter-suppression tactic, the latest bill to come out of a Utah Legislature interim committee is fairly weak tea. As part of a growing trend by state governments to reduce the number of citizens who can vote, it is just another sign that our elected servants want to limit the number of people who can fire them.

Acting once again in fear of an imaginary threat of voter fraud, the Legislature’s Government Operations and Political Subdivisions Interim Committee last week advanced a bill that would direct county elections officials to watch who fails to vote in two consecutive elections and send them a letter. If they don’t reply, and they miss two more general elections, the county officials would be required to remove those voters’ names from the rolls.