Salt Lake County clerk to help register new citizens to vote after change in federal policy

SALT LAKE CITY — With the recent federal order that prohibits League of Women Voters volunteers from registering newly naturalized citizens at immigration facilities, Salt Lake County Clerk Lannie Chapman wants to help take up where the organization leaves off.

On learning of the Aug. 29 U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services policy change, “I saw that there would be a gap, because I know all the tremendous work that the league has done, and I wanted to make sure that legacy continued on,” she said. League of Women Voters leaders charge that the change effectively makes it harder for new U.S. citizens to vote.

Accordingly, Chapman’s office will help with voter registration efforts after naturalization ceremonies held at the Salt Lake City U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office. Per last month’s change, league volunteers can still conduct voter registration efforts at naturalization ceremonies held at other facilities. “I’m not going to take over from them, but I want to make sure that there aren’t any gaps left,” Chapman said.

The policy alert doesn’t explain what spurred last month’s change. Per the shift, it reads, “Only state and local election officials are permitted to provide voter registration services at the conclusion of an administrative naturalization ceremony. Nongovernmental entities are not permitted to provide voter registration services at (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services) facilities during naturalization ceremonies.”

Katharine Biele, though, who heads the League of Women Voters in Utah, criticized the change. The league in Utah has helped register “thousands” of people at naturalization ceremonies in the state over the years, she estimates.

“We are very disappointed, particularly since we have been working with these naturalization officers for decades,” Biele said. “They say they need to vet us to make sure that we’re doing the right thing. We’ve always done the right thing, and we look at this as yet another way to make voting more difficult for people.”

League representatives can still carry out voter registration efforts after ceremonies held in courtrooms and other places, and Biele wonders if there’s a workaround to offer assistance after U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services ceremonies. “We would like to be able to find another way to register voters, maybe outside of the offices. But that is not up to us. That’s up to the government,” she said.

She also said the league has a good working relationship with local U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officials and doesn’t aim “to protest them.”

Biele praised Salt Lake County Clerk’s Office voter registration efforts, but noted that the office has limited staff to help with naturalization efforts. “That’s always why we’ve helped,” she said.

Biele and staffers from her office helped register voters after a naturalization ceremony held Sept. 8 in West Valley City in connection with Salt Lake County’s annual Welcoming Week activities, meant to foster a sense of belonging among immigrants and other newcomers.

Those who have taken the time and effort to become U.S. citizens “deserve all the rights the rest of us have, and part of that is understanding their rights to have their voices heard,” Chapman said. “It’s just making sure all of our eligible residents understand how important their voices are in our community and local, state and federal elections, and ensuring that they get a seat at that table. It’s critically important.”