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ACLU hopes to educate Utah voters about the powerful role of a prosecutor ahead of the 2018 election

It’s an election Utahns might not hear a lot of buzz about — the race for county attorney — but the American Civil Liberties Union of Utah says it’s an important one, given the amount of power prosecutors have in the criminal justice system.

And as part of a national ACLU effort called Smart Justice to end mass incarceration, Utahns will likely be seeing the local chapter of the civil rights group talking more about county attorney races.

Jason Groth, the Smart Justice coordinator for the ACLU of Utah, said last week that the group has two goals: Educate voters about a prosecutor’s role in the criminal justice system and encourage Utahns to vote “reform-minded” county attorneys into office.