- Why should Utah care about Henderson’s position and the pressure from the federal government?
- What does this mean for other actions taken by national or state governments?
- Does this help or hinder Henderson’s potential gubernatorial candidacy in 2028?
Usually, Utahns only hear from or about their lieutenant governor when they attend ribbon-cutting ceremonies, support the governor’s initiatives in press conferences or offer the occasional commentary on the elections office. But the state’s No. 2 official, Deidre Henderson, has drawn national attention in a tug-of-war with the Trump administration. We explain why and analyze the ramifications.
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Henderson is increasingly getting pressure from the president to hand over Utah’s full, private voter records. Yet she refuses and continues to receive threats from the Department of Justice, most recently informing her she is under investigation. Why should Utah care about Henderson’s position and the pressure from the federal government?
Cowley: In 2018, Sen. Karen Mayne passed a bill allowing any voter to classify their records as private. This made huge swaths of data unavailable. Privacy advocates broadly supported it, but a faction of election watchers raised concerns that it would reduce the public’s ability to independently verify election accuracy. From an operative’s standpoint, restricting access to these records makes it harder to conduct surveys, track voters and build canvassing maps. It ultimately makes it harder to find voters, which costs campaigns more money. This bill also helped give rise to modern-day Utah election deniers.
None of these advocates would support sharing this data with the federal government. Even if voters support Trump’s election security efforts, they have reservations about future administrations’ stewardship of these records. Handing over sensitive information to the federal government does little to prevent voter fraud; national voter ID laws would be far more effective and less intrusive.
Pignanelli: “The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations …” — The United States Constitution
The Supreme Court reaffirmed multiple times that our governing document authorizes states to adopt “generally applicable and evenhanded restrictions that protect the integrity and reliability of the electoral process itself.”
Congress can influence state election supervision, but the executive branch does not have the unilateral power to interfere with states on this important element of democracy.
This is another classic federalism battle as to whether states are just administrative units. Utah should be concerned because the federal government is not a bastion of efficiency, raising questions about security and privacy. Cynical observers also believe this issue is being raised to bolster accusations of fraudulent behavior if Congress changes control.
The state’s leading newspapers, top officials and others have expressed support for Henderson. A recent poll from Noble Predictive Insights reveals 54% of Utahns approve of Henderson’s resistance to the DOJ. But she does have detractors. What does this mean for any actions taken by national or state governments?
Cowley: Election administration is a perpetual target of complaint. Frequent audits have been performed in Utah, vetting accusations from far-right conspiracy mongers who follow Phil Lyman. The results are consistent: There is no evidence of fraud in Utah’s vote-by-mail system.
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Discussions have surfaced about the appropriateness of the lieutenant governor serving as the administrator and referee of an election where they are also a candidate. My biggest personal grievance in Utah elections is the snail’s pace of tallying ballots. In an on-demand, same-day shipping world, the weekslong, drawn-out, slow drip of election results is maddening.
There are plenty of reasons to look at states like California, New York and even Arizona for election fraud, but Utah has successfully executed by-mail elections for a long time. Voter turnout has increased, and reassuring findings from multiple audits make Utah the poster child of election administration.
Yet good is never good enough when it comes to securing our democracy. Utah and the U.S. as a whole should continue to safeguard elections, increase voter turnout and build public trust in election integrity through regular, robust audits and process transparency.
Pignanelli: Americans love a David-versus-Goliath story. Also, standing up to the federal government is a time-honored, productive tradition of Utah politics.Henderson’sskillful, intelligent articulation of legal concepts is appealing.
However, concerns are percolating among GOP lawmakers and activists about the lieutenant governor. She issued an opinion that the indirect ballot initiative to repeal Proposition 4, sponsored by Republicans, was constitutionally invalid and could not be submitted for signature. Others expressed frustration that regulations on special-interest groups are not being enforced for election violations. These issues may be raised in the next legislative session.
Does this help or hinder Henderson’s potential gubernatorial candidacy in 2028?
Cowley: Utahns are united in their distrust of the federal government accessing their sensitive voter information and applaud Henderson’s bravery in standing up to Trump. Since I thrive on political drama, I’m holding out hope that Trump makes the tactical error of escalating his political intimidation and actually prosecutes Henderson, making him a tyrant and her a martyr. It would bestow her with national name ID, endless fundraising potential and, best of all, campaign swag adorned with her mug shot.
Pignanelli: In this century, the post of lieutenant governor has become a launching pad to Utah’s top position. Henderson’s popularity will give her advantages (i.e., fundraising) but also disadvantages (with delegates at the convention). Regardless, she’s a viable player.
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