SALT LAKE CITY – Some Utahns are applauding what they regard as Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson’s principled stand in opposition to demands from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) for state voter information.
But the ranks of Henderson’s admirers don’t include the members of the Central Committee of the Utah Republican Party.
On July 7, the leaders of the Utah Republican issued a formal resolution censuring Henderson for refusing to fully comply with a lawful federal request by providing only limited or redacted information, thereby obstructing efforts to confirm the citizenship and eligibility of Utah voters.
The censure resolution from her own party came on the heels of the arrival of a DOJ letter this week threatening criminal prosecution if Henderson fails to comply with the demands of the Trump administration.
“I’m sure that I’m not the only chief election officer of a state who is being targeted for following state and federal law by resisting DOJ’s demands for private voter data,” the lieutenant governor observed in July 9 social media post.
“This is truly bizarre behavior by a federal agency that is supposed to be protecting civil rights.”
The resolution from the Utah Republicans is just the latest development in the ongoing tug-of-war between state and federal officials over voter information.
The Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice began sending requests to chief election officials across the country to inspect copies of their statewide voter registration lists in May 2025, according to reports by Capitol Hill journals. States are responsible for maintaining voter lists and have laws governing the information that can be shared from these lists.
There is no national voter registration database and, historically, the federal government has not collected comprehensive voter list data.
After a series of inquires and correspondence with states, the DOJ began filing lawsuits against some states that did not provide their entire, unredacted voter lists.
As of April 1, 2026, the DOJ has filed lawsuits against 30 states and Washington, D.C. Those states include Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
As of June 18, the cases against Arizona, California, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Oregon, Rhode Island and Wisconsin have been dismissed by federal courts.
In response to the initial data requests from Washington, Henderson’s office conducted an audit of more than 2 million registered voters in Utah. That research found that only 27 voters were non-citizens and identified another 25 as likely non-citizens.
“This demonstrates that there is not a widespread problem and that states and our county clerks, for the most part, do a very good job of making sure that our voter rolls are clean and that only eligible voters are registering,” Henderson said.
Not surprisingly, Utah Democrats are supporting Henderson’s stand against the DOJ demands, saying that the state already has systems in place to verify voters and protect election integrity.
“What Utahns don’t need,” they said in a recent social media post, “is political intimidation, threats against election officials or unnecessary attempts to collect private information from millions of voters.”
The statewide audit of voting records failed to satisfy to the Utah GOP, however.
In their resolution, Republican leaders condemned Henderson’s refusal to comply with the DOJ requests, saying that her principled stand “… undermines public confidence in Utah’s voter rolls, prioritizes bureaucratic resistance over election security and fails to align with the Republican Party’s commitment to fair, honest and transparent elections.”
The state GOP has called upon the lieutenant governor to reconsider her position and fully cooperate with federal authorities.