diff --git a/app/controllers/submitters_controller.rb b/app/controllers/submitters_controller.rb
index 9d2ff813..3adb3c89 100644
--- a/app/controllers/submitters_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/submitters_controller.rb
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ class SubmittersController < ApplicationController
     submitter_preferences = Submitters.normalize_preferences(@submitter.account, current_user, params)
 
     if submitter_preferences.key?('email_message_uuid')
-      submitter.preferences['email_message_uuid'] = submitter_preferences['email_message_uuid']
+      @submitter.preferences['email_message_uuid'] = submitter_preferences['email_message_uuid']
     end
 
     assign_submitter_attrs(@submitter, submitter_params)