Utah County Clerk Aaron Davidson talks reelection bid with Daily Herald
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- Utah County Clerk Aaron Davidson talks with the editorial board at the Daily Herald in Provo on Monday, June 8, 2026.
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- Utah County Clerk Aaron Davidson talks with the editorial board at the Daily Herald in Provo on Monday, June 8, 2026.
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- Utah County Clerk Aaron Davidson talks with the editorial board at the Daily Herald in Provo on Monday, June 8, 2026.
Aaron Davidson is pursuing a second term as Utah County Clerk.
He sat down with the Daily Herald editorial board Monday to discuss his campaign and his first term in office as the June 23 Republican primary approaches.
Davidson will face Corey Astill on the ballot. Both candidates received party nominations from the convention, with Davidson receiving 58.63% of the vote and Astill receiving 41.36%.
Davidson’s reelection bid comes on the heels of a term that drew public and media attention. Critics say he is too involved in partisan politics and say he made changes to the ballot process that confused voters. Davidson said he was working to make the election process more transparent and secure.
He told the Daily Herald there were things he tried that did not work out as he had hoped in his first term but said he’s adjusted to a learning curve and hopes to expand on progress he’s made.
“It’s like a boxer that goes in the arena,” Davidson said. “He might get knocked down, but he stands back up and continues the fight. So I’ve been knocked down a couple of times on some of the things I’ve tried, and I’ve stood back up and I’ve fought.
“The last two years I’ve worked on some really good things with the legislators to help Utah elections become more safe and secure, and I want to now capitalize on those relationships, and for the full four years really work on enhancing some of the legislation to make it more safe and secure for elections.”
Public scrutiny
Davidson, who has been critical of Utah’s election process, previously stating mail-in ballots are not “safe and secure,” has clashed with other public officials throughout his term.
In 2024, he was reprimanded by the Lieutenant Governor’s Office for modifying a candidate’s filing form after the filing period deadline, and he reportedly accused Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson of breaking the law, saying she violated manual candidate signature-verification statutes.
Prior to the 2024 general election, Davidson told the Deseret News he keeps track of how politicians cast their ballots and new Sen. Mike McKell did not use a stamp on his ballot.
Asked Tuesday what role partisan politics plays in his office, Davidson said he has tried to maintain “as much neutrality in the election process as I possibly can” but said that he has an obligation to be involved in the election process.
“I think I would be derelict in my duties if I didn’t get involved in politics,” Davidson said. “Utah County is the second largest county in Utah, so I see probably more ballots go through our county than almost the combined total of all of them, except for Salt Lake. I feel like I should get involved in the — I don’t call it the politics, it’s the legislative process. Because I have to follow legislation, and if I see that there’s a problem, I have to contact my legislators and say, ‘Here’s what I’m seeing, here’s what I’m finding and here’s a way to solve this problem.'”
Davidson also said he has received unnecessary scrutiny from the Lieutenant Governor’s Office, citing a 2024 instance where Henderson criticized him for the county not paying return postage on ballots.
“I was joining the majority of the counties, but she never said anything about the other counties not paying return postage, so why are they selectively criticizing Utah County when the large majority of the counties don’t pay return postage?” Davidson said.
Asked whether he would work better with state leadership in his next term if reelected, he said he would do what is best for voters.
“If it’s standing up to the Lieutenant Governor’s office by them criticizing me, for example, the postage, I’m not going to back down on that one,” he said.
Pushing for changes
Citing that Utah ranks 40th in the MIT’s Elections Performance Index, Davidson said Utah should be looking at what other states are doing.
He said steps taken to change the system include pushing for HB 263 in 2025, which makes the cast vote record publicly accessible.
Davidson said he also worked on HB 209 this year, which allows election officials to use a federal database to verify voters’ citizenship.
Davidson said the county has found four people who voted before becoming citizens and three noncitizens that were registered to vote without knowing. He added that the last review by the Lieutenant Governor found 11 noncitizens registered to vote and estimated there were more that were previously removed by the clerk’s office prior to the review.
When asked if noncitizens being registered to vote justifies the attention it receives, Davidson said that as of now, it is not enough to sway any vote, but he said it needs to be addressed.
“There is evidence of that small number,” he said, “but not evidence of thousands.
“It’s a worthy cause to make sure that we are cleaning them up and making sure that they are citizens, because that’s the mandate that we’ve received.”
