I’m getting sick of writing about these things all over facebook, twitter, and tumblr so here’s a slimmed down article from the Trib:

The Utah House last week passed a bill with the stated goal of making Utah look marginally more democratic than it really is, by actually making it slightly less democratic.

Call it voter suppression lite.

Sponsor Rep. Kraig Powell, a Heber City Republican, convinced 45 other representatives, including some Democrats, to approve his HB253. That bill would set up a multi-stage process that would end with some seldom-participating voters being struck from the rolls.

Here’s how such a law would work: Counties would have to keep track of who did or did not vote in each general election. Voters who missed two consecutive rounds would be sent a letter asking them to verify their address. If that letter comes back, marked undeliverable by the U.S. Postal Service, the county would send out another letter, warning that a failure to vote in the next two general elections will mean they will be removed from the list of registered voters.

Powell worries that the total number of registered voters is artificially inflated by carrying the names of people who have moved away or died. And that skews the voter turnout numbers lower than they would be with a better-maintained voter list.

Maybe. But it is a particularly devious move in Utah, where moderate voters are so often uninterested in the process because most decisions are made in party caucuses and conventions. Should the day ever come that those voters find themselves energized by a hot issue — oh, say, repealing a state law to provide tax-funded vouchers to private schools — they could well show up at the polls for the first time in a long time, only to find themselves declared nonpersons by HB253.