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SALT LAKE CITY — A state senator from Spanish Fork has made it known that his ballot status was set to private after it was revealed that the Utah County Clerk, Aaron Davidson, tracked the method he used to cast it during June's primary, and recently publicized that it didn't include a stamp. State Sen. Mike McKell, R - Spanish Fork, confirmed his voter status to KSL TV, and believes Davidson has violated state law by revealing that. Davidson first made the revelation that he isolated how McKell and other politicians cast their votes to the Deseret News, but has since done several interviews with KSL TV defending his decision to track voting methods. He did not respond in a follow-up text asking about McKell's voter status being private. "I didn't touch his ballot. I didn't open his ballot. I didn't do anything with his ballot," Davidson said. "His ballot had already been processed, he had already received credit, had already been tabulated. So it was after the fact, after Mike McKell was making a big issue because Utah County decided not to pay return postage, back in January, of the ballots." Davidson said McKell was promoting the use of returning ballots by mail and without a stamp with those criticisms — costing taxpayers extra money. "Mike, McKell is out there telling people to use a less effective, less-safe method of returning the ballot. And so it bothered me that he was out there publicly saying that," Davidson said. McKell said that was playing politics with the office. "You have an election clerk who is singling out election elected officials ... So he could hold us accountable and tell the public the method that we used — that's politicizing, that's politicizing a legal method of voting," McKell said. McKell asked the Utah County Attorney's Office to screen for potential charges related to whether Davidson revealed a private voting record or whether he violated his right to a secret ballot. The office confirmed that they're looking into it.
Private voting records can't be made public
Under state law, private voter records cannot be made public, but they are allowed to be given to political parties, candidates, and their contractors, according to the law explained on thelieutenant governor's website. "The lieutenant governor or a county clerk may not disclose the voter registration form of a person, or information included in the person's voter registration form who's ... form is classified as private," state law reads. By default, Utahns voter registration information is considered public, but a voter can choose to make their voting status private or withheld, which McKell said he did for the primary. The Lt. Governor's office does not confirm the voter status of a private voter.
Davidson says his office tracks whether voters use stamps
Davidson also defended his decision to track individual voting methods by saying that anyone can get access to the way someone voted in what's known as an "As Voted" list. Campaigns use the nightly report to track who turned in their ballots and who they still need to prod. "The only thing I added to (the information publicly available) was yes ... (McKell) turned it into the mail, but he did not put a stamp on it because our system tracks whether they put a stamp on it or not," Davidson said. According to political experts with knowledge of those lists, they do not specify whether someone uses a stamp. It only tracks whether they voted by mail or in person. That means that the clerk's office would have had to create a way to track which ballots used a stamp and which ones didn't.
Another lawmaker comes forward
Rep. Stephanie Gricius, R - Eagle Mountain, also told KSL TV that Davidson asked her about her vote when she and Davidson met at a campaign event this summer. "He said something along the lines of, if I remember correctly, you voted by mail during the primary election and then strongly encouraged me to use a Dropbox for the general," she said. Gricius said she was volunteering at the time and didn't immediately think anything of the comment. "So that's about where the conversation ended. But it was at that point I realized, yes, somebody is looking at my information, which then led me to wonder, okay, how did he access that? And what else has he been accessing?" she said. In follow-up texts, Davidson didn't respond to questions about the alleged conversation. "An election official whose whole job is to administer our elections as securely as possible, using his position to track certain individuals, myself included, is extremely unsettling and highly inappropriate," Gricius said.
Utah County Commissioner calls for recusal, others condemn
The Utah County Commissioner and former clerk, Amelia Powers Gardner, who also approves of the budget for the clerk's office, is calling on Davidson to recuse himself after this and a series of recentissues.
"In this case, we've got a myriad of people who don't have confidence in Aaron Davidson's ability to administer this election in a non-biased manner," she said. "Especially considering that he's calling out a candidate on the ballot, (the) lieutenant governor. He's filed an amicus brief on behalf of the Phil Lyman campaign. He's clearly aligned himself and has a political ideology. I think he should recuse himself." The mayor of Cedar Hill, a small city in Utah County, also spoke out condemning Davidson's isolation of McKell's ballot. "When he tried to try and shame Senator McKell he crossed a line. The legal method any voter uses to turn in their ballot is a protected right and should not fall under the scrutiny of the county clerk," said mayor Denise Andersen. "Mr. Davidson used his power as a county clerk to use county resources and time to isolate these ballots, which seems to me to be a misuse of government funds." Davidson maintains he violated no state laws.
