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New voter privacy law hurts Utah political parties, so they want it changed

The chairmen of the Utah Democratic and Republican parties don’t often testify together for the same bill. But they joined Wednesday to ask the Legislature to change a 2018 law that has led to one of every eight Utah voters choosing to prevent public release of their voter registration data.

That “data is vitally important as we try to contact voters and encourage them to vote,” Utah Democratic Party Chairman Jeff Merchant told the Legislature’s Government Operations Interim Committee.

Utah Republican Party Chairman Derek Brown says his party has an even bigger problem.