Davis County Republicans on Saturday voted down a resolution to censure Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson for refusing to give the Trump administration Utah's full, unredacted voter rolls. The failure suggests that criticism of Henderson from some Utah Republicans is not widely shared in the party.
The U.S. Department of Justice opened an investigation last year into whether Utah complies with voter list maintenance requirements under the National Voter Registration Act and the Help America Vote Act. It asked Henderson for the state's complete voter list, including sensitive details such as driver's license numbers and partial Social Security numbers. She refused, saying Utah law bars the release of that information.
The DOJ sued her in February to force her to turn over the voter rolls. It has filed similar lawsuits against 29 states and Washington, D.C., and has lost all 25 that have been decided in federal district court.
The censure resolution came before the Davis County GOP Central Committee and was sponsored by former county party chair Teena Horlacher. It accused Henderson of shirking her duty to "ensure the integrity, transparency, and security" of elections. It said her actions "undermine public confidence" and that she put "bureaucratic resistance over election security." It also demanded that she cooperate fully with federal authorities and prioritize "maximum transparency" in maintaining the rolls.
Committee members showed little appetite for punishing her and rejected the resolution.
The vote aligns with public opinion. A recent Noble Predictive Insights survey found that 54% of Utah voters approve of Henderson defying the Trump administration's request, while 27% disapprove.
Horlacher and her daughter were on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021, attempted insurrection. In 2023, she filed a $5 million lien on her own home. The document used phrases and symbols common to the sovereign citizen movement, which the FBI describes as "anti-government extremists."
