This is your daily news rundown for Wednesday, May 27. In this edition:
- Just 27 of Utah's two million registered voters were confirmed noncitizens, an audit found
- A new license plate wants to help settle Utah's school lunch debt
- Over 8,000 boats were inspected for invasive mussels over the weekend
A tiny fraction of registered Utah voters weren't citizens, audit says
Some Utah leaders have expressed concern about noncitizens voting in elections — but how many are actually on Utah’s voter registration rolls?
According to an audit by the Office of the Lieutenant Governor, very few.
Of the state's two million voters, just 27 were found to be noncitizens and removed by county clerks. Another 25 were considered likely noncitizens and will have 30 days to provide proof of citizenship before they’re removed.
The audit also found about 5,000 voters whose citizenship couldn’t be confirmed either way. However, Lieutenant Governor Deidre Henderson said many of those are “legacy voters” who registered in Utah before voters had to use a driver’s license and attest to their citizenship status.
Under a new Utah law passed this year, those voters will need to show proof of citizenship in order to vote in state and local elections this November.
Utah has $2.8 million in school lunch debt. This license plate could help change that
Utah has a new specialty license plate in the works — this one to help pay off student lunch debt.
The effort is being led by the Utah Lunch Debt Relief Foundation, which hopes to eliminate the state’s current $3.9 million dollars in school lunch debt.
A new way to achieve that is with the proceeds from a new license plate, which DJ Bracken, creator of the foundation, said they’re working with the DMV to submit by July 1 and have ready by the school year.
Before they can be made, 500 people need to pre-order one so the state knows there’s enough interest.
It will be one of over 60 specialty license plates Utahns can choose from to raise funds for a cause or honor specific groups of people, ranging from cancer research to universities to women’s suffrage.
Over 8,000 boats were inspected for invasive mussels over the weekend
While Utahns were enjoying their long Memorial Day weekend, Utah officials were hard at work stopping the spread of invasive species.
From Friday to Monday, the Utah Department of Natural Resources and Division of Wildlife Resources inspected over 8,000 boats for species like quagga mussels, which are harmful to the environment and difficult to remove from water bodies.
Almost 200 of those boats required decontamination, and several were cited for not complying with laws designed to prevent the spread of invasive mussels.
To keep your own watercraft free of mussels after a day out on the water, make sure to clean and drain it thoroughly, then let it completely dry before launching into other waters, at least five days.
Utah also has a mandatory mussel-aware boater program.
