SALT LAKE CITY — Utah County Clerk Aaron Davidson looked at members of the House Business & Labor Committee and declared: "This bill is about me."
The clerk — who has been accused of improperly tracking the ballots of Utah County lawmakers in a long-running dispute with other political figures over vote-by-mail — was speaking against House Bill 69. It would create a "code of conduct" for county clerks, who administer elections, by prohibiting them from releasing certain information about how a voter cast their ballot.
Rep. Stephanie Gricius, R-Eagle Mountain, said the bill would "protect the information that’s public, protect individual records and prevent that type of situation from happening again."
She was one of those who said her ballot information had been accessed by Davidson, who defended his actions as saving taxpayer money and calling attention to problems with using the U.S. Postal Service to vote. He is accused of looking up Utah County lawmakers' ballots to determine if they used a stamp and dropped it in the mail or a dropbox.
Davidson is currently facing an investigation by the Utah County Attorney's Office to determine if any laws were broken. But the clerk told the committee he did nothing wrong.
"I am doing my job by calling out the public officials that are calling for my voters to use a less safe and secure method. By not paying for postage i was able to increase the dropbox, which is more secure," he said.
Davidson has feuded with some Utah County elected officials over his decision not to pay for postage on mail-in ballots. He acknowledged pulling ballot information on Sen. Mike McKell, R-Spanish Fork, but has insisted he did nothing illegal or used any information that wasn't available to political parties or campaigns. Sen. McKell has countered that his ballot was designated "private."
During Wednesday's hearing, the Davis County Clerk said he supported the bill. Lt. Governor Deidre Henderson's office testified it was neutral on the bill itself, but argued that voter information should never be "weaponized." Some testified against the bill.
"The bill is nothing more than trying to solve a private dispute with a piece of legislation," said Greg Duerden of the Independent American Party, which spoke against the bill.
HB69 passed the committee unanimously. It now goes to the full House of Representatives for a vote.
"To specifically look at any group of people, for whatever reason, to see how they returned their ballot is, going back to the code of conduct, is not good conduct in my opinion," said Rep. Cory Maloy, R-Lehi.
