Utah House strips conspiracy-linked tech from voter database bill

The Utah House passed a bill Friday morning to withdraw the state from a multi-state voter information system, but not before removing controversial language that could have given election conspiracy theorists access to sensitive voter data.

The legislation, HB332, would end Utah's participation in the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC), a nonprofit organization that helps states maintain accurate voter rolls and prevent fraud. In 2022, 31 states and the District of Columbia were part of ERIC. In 2024, nine states withdrew from ERIC because of election-related conspiracy theories.

House Majority Whip Karianne Lisonbee, the bill's sponsor, defended the withdrawal, noting that other states have found alternatives. "States that have left ERIC have created agreements with other states that want to work together to secure our elections, and there are now many existing agreements, including a multi-state agreement," Lisonbee said Friday.

House Majority Whip Karianne Lisonbee, the bill's sponsor, defended the withdrawal, noting that other states have found alternatives. "States that have left ERIC have created agreements with other states that want to work together to secure our elections, and there are now many existing agreements, including a multi-state agreement," Lisonbee said Friday.

However, an investigation by the open-records organization American Oversight reveals a different story. Their research shows that states attempting to replace ERIC have struggled to create viable alternatives for sharing voter data, forcing many to resort to limited one-to-one agreements with other states.

The most controversial aspect of the original bill was a provision requiring any third-party contractor maintaining Utah's voter rolls to employ "quantum technology."

The unusual specification appeared tailored for one particular vendor: Jay Valentine and his company, Fractal, which markets what it calls "fractal quantum technology" to states that have left ERIC.

Valentine has ties to prominent election conspiracy theorists like Mike Lindell and Sidney Powell. Lindell, the MyPillow CEO, was also one of the original funders of the so-called "quantum technology."

Valentine has made unsubstantiated claims about election fraud, including allegations that leftist organizations are "harvesting" mail-in ballots sent to non-existent voters to swing elections toward Democratic candidates.

During a House Committee hearing earlier this month, Lisonbee defended the quantum technology requirement, claiming there are a "significant number of companies in the United States that utilize quantum technology." However, when Utah Political Watch requested examples of such companies, both Lisonbee and a spokesperson for the House Republican Majority declined to respond.

The connection between Republican legislative leaders and Valentine is deeper than the bill's language suggests. Lisonbee and House Speaker Mike Schultz met in person with Valentine in May, a meeting arranged by Jen Brown of Utah Citizens for the Constitution, a far-right organization. Brown, who has promoted various election-related conspiracy theories, was recently appointed as a non-voting member of the Legislature's Federalism Commission.

While the final version of the bill removes the "quantum technology" requirement in favor of "advanced data analytics," it still grants broad access to sensitive data. The selected third-party company would have access to Utah's voter rolls, driver's license records, property tax information, and Medicaid application records, along with other unspecified data under the broad category of "other relevant records."

Lisonbee is asking the Executive Appropriations Committee to spend $100,000 on whichever third-party company is selected.