Celeste Maloy voting records show Republican affiliation when she filed congressional candidacy

SALT LAKE CITY — Voting records obtained by KSL NewsRadio on Wednesday show Celeste Maloy was an inactive Utah voter set to be removed, but still a Republican on the day she filed to run for office. KSL NewsRadio obtained Maloy’s voting records from the Lieutenant Governor’s Office and they span from 2016 until the present.

If Maloy wasn’t affiliated with the Republican Party in Utah, state law and the Utah Republican Party constitution would have prevented her from declaring as a potential nominee to be placed on the special election ballot for the 2nd Congressional District.

These documents show no change in party affiliation in Maloy’s voting records over the course of the last seven years, and they show she became an active voter again when she registered in Iron County on June 15, 2023 — three days after the Lieutenant Governor’s Office certified her candidacy.

Maloy is running to replace her former boss, Rep. Chris Stewart, R-Utah, and has been involved in an ongoing saga over her voter affiliation and residency, and whether it makes her ineligible for the nomination. 

First, what’s an inactive voter?

An inactive voter means you don’t automatically get mailed a ballot from your county clerk.

You can become inactive for various reasons, but in this case, Maloy became inactive because she moved to Washington, D.C.

Of note, Maloy’s voting records show she also did not vote in two consecutive elections, which is something else that can make a voter inactive. When you’ve been made inactive, you still have a voter registration on record in Utah. You still stay on Utah’s voter rolls despite not voting.

Second, Maloy’s voting records

On June 12, 2023, the day she filed her declaration of candidacy, Maloy’s voting records indicate her party affiliation was Republican.

According to the records from the state elections, she registered as a Republican in 2016 in Washington County. Again, there is no record of Maloy changing her party affiliation between then and the day she filed to run for office.

After that she voted in several elections in a row, each as a Republican.

Here’s how that timeline looks according to the Lieutenant Governor’s Office:

• Feb. 10, 2016: Maloy registers as a Republican through registration at the DMV.
• June 28, 2016: Maloy votes in the primary election as a Republican in Washington County. She voted in person for this election.
• Nov. 11, 2016: Maloy votes in the general election as a Republican in Washington County. She voted in person for this election.
• Aug. 15, 2017: Maloy votes in the municipal primary election as a Republican in Washington County. She voted in person for this election.
• Nov. 7, 2017: Maloy votes in the municipal general election as a Republican in Washington County. She voted in person for this election.
• June 26, 2018: Maloy votes in the primary election as a Republican in Washington County. She voted in person for this election.
• Nov. 11, 2018: Maloy votes in the general election as a Republican in Washington County. This ballot was mailed to a St. George address affiliated with Maloy.

When Maloy’s voter record becomes inactive

On April 24, 2019, Maloy was made inactive due to a National Change of Address update that the Washington County clerk processed, according to the state election records. This was around the time when Maloy previously told KSL NewsRadio moved to Virginia to work in Washington, D.C. for Stewart.

In 2020 and 2022, Maloy was primarily living in Washington, D.C., and did not vote in Utah. She didn’t send an absentee ballot, telling KSL NewsRadio that’s because she didn’t want her ballot to be flagged as fraudulent. During the elections between 2020 and 2022, she was considered an inactive voter. Her inactive status didn’t negate her Republican Party affiliation.

On Jan. 3, 2023, Maloy was marked as “removable” in Utah’s voter rolls due to inactivity. This means she missed two consecutive federal elections after being made inactive. Removable means she could have been removed from Utah’s voter rolls altogether, and at any time.

Maloy declares her candidacy on June 12, 2023. When Maloy reactivates her registration in Iron County on June 15, 2023, documents provided to KSL NewsRadio by the Iron County clerk signal he was able to find her voter file dating all the way back to 2000.

That means that she was never deleted from Utah’s voter roles.

So what?

If Maloy had been deleted from Utah’s voter roles, then she would have been considered unaffiliated from Utah’s Republican Party because she wouldn’t have existed as a voter in Utah at all. The Utah Republican Party requires its members to reside in Utah, register as a Republican, and follow the party’s constitution, bylaws and other rules.

Again, all of this means, throughout this entire seven-year timeline, she was never unaffiliated with the Republican Party, despite her voter registration becoming inactive. 

Read more:

• Celeste Maloy addresses questions about her residency and voting record
• GOP delegates elect Celeste Maloy to ballot for CD2 special election

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