They don't quite remember what they did Nov. 4 - vote for Democratic Congressman Jim Matheson.

A lot of voters also don't remember how they cast their ballots in U.S. Rep. Chris Cannon's race against Democrat Beau Babka. And Republican Congressman Rob Bishop didn't stick in their minds any better.

But in the case of Matheson, a new e-mail survey of 400 voters by Brigham Young University's Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy indicates conservative voters in particular don't recall - or won't admit - how they cast their ballot.

In the end, Matheson got 55 percent of the vote to former legislator John Swallow's 43 percent. To achieve that solid 12 percentage point victory, Matheson had to persuade nearly 40 percent of those who voted for President Bush to switch over and vote for him.

Now, many of those voters apparently don't remember that. About 41 percent say they cast their ballots for Swallow and 40 percent reported a vote for Matheson. Another 17 percent can't remember which man they voted for.

“In Republican Utah, the memory fades a bit faster for some respondents,” said Quin Monson, center assistant director. “The Matheson voters disproportionately don't remember voting for him.”

Former state Democratic Party Chairman Donald Dunn figures Republican voters simply can't acknowledge voting for a Democrat. “They're embarrassed. A staunch Republican will remember if they voted for a Democrat. I can remember the two or three times I voted for a Republican,” Dunn said. “Hey, as long as they keep voting for Jim Matheson, even if they don't want to admit it, we'll take that to victory.”

In an unusual method of polling, the center randomly sent e-mails to voters who participated in the Utah Colleges Exit poll last year.

The results were weighted to represent voter demographics and BYU political scientists stand behind it as statistically valid. The congressional race results had a margin of error of 8 percent, plus or minus, and the statewide questions had a 4.7 percent error margin.

Monson says the Web survey was meant to gauge how Utah voters feel about the electoral process generally. And what BYU's statisticians found confirms the old saw that many voters don't pay much attention to politics.

Virtually every Utah voter polled remembers whether they voted for Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry or the president. And in the race for governor, only 3 percent were unsure if they voted for Republican Jon Huntsman Jr. or Democrat Scott Matheson Jr.

But memories faded further down the ballot.

In Matheson's case, the congressman's staff and state Republican Party leaders are at a loss to explain it.

In fact, after a bitterly waged 2004 campaign, they're a little uncomfortable reflecting on partisan voter amnesia.

“It's interesting. But I don't know how significant it is,” said Matheson spokeswoman Alyson Heyrend. “What does it mean? Who knows?”

State Republican Party Director Spencer Jenkins figures some voters were confused by the fact that two Mathesons were on the ballot. “Maybe in all the political noise, people get lost,” Jenkins said.