Utah Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson speaks to reporters, students and government officials about threats to election officials and distrust in voting systems at the University of Utah’s Hinckley Institute of Politics on Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. (Kyle Dunphey/Utah News Dispatch)
Utah’s Republican lieutenant governor has strong words for candidates and their supporters who don’t accept election results.
An attack on elections and the people who run them, Deidre Henderson said, is an attack on liberty and free government.
“‘Heads I win, tails you cheated’ is not a foundational principle of a free government,” she told reporters on Thursday.
It’s been a tumultuous election year for Henderson, and elections officials all over the state, who have reported a rise in threats and misinformation. The FBI is currently investigating an envelope containing white powder that was addressed to the Lt. Governor’s Office last month, and Henderson has for months faced accusations that she meddled in the state’s primary election.
FBI intercepts ‘suspicious’ envelope containing white powder addressed to Utah Lt. Gov.
She’s been called “traitorous,” “corrupt” and a closeted Democrat on social media. Her recent decision to not endorse Donald Trump for president, as first reported by The Salt Lake Tribune, has brought a new wave of criticism. Henderson said her office and county officials around the state now have personal protective equipment in case they find suspicious or threatening packages.
Those attacks, Henderson said, are symptoms of a broader distrust in elections and election officials. And as Nov. 5 nears, that rhetoric will intensify, she warned.
Voters will hear claims of rigged elections and corrupt judges; reporters will press candidates on whether they’ll accept the election results; politicians and pundits will argue voting by mail or machine is less accurate; it could take several days, maybe weeks, for some results to be clear; irregularities may arise, not because of a vast conspiracy, but because of human error.
“During the last four years there has been more violence and disruption aimed at our political institutions than we have seen in decades. And while we expect these destructive efforts to continue, we have learned a lot in the past four years and are prepared for it,” Henderson said. “I want to make sure you are prepared too.”
Speaking to a room full of students, reporters, government officials and staff with the University of Utah’s Hinckley Institute of Politics on Thursday, Henderson leveled criticism at her own party for sowing distrust in elections and, in her own words, focusing on the outcome, rather than the process.
“If the outcome is something that they don’t like, they’re going to question everything,” she said.
Henderson described a sentiment that has slowly built among some Republicans, starting in 2016 and reaching a new peak in 2020, where a fringe group of “election vigilantes” are now considered mainstream.
“Both parties are guilty of this. I do understand that it is much more prevalent among one party right now, in unprecedented ways, so I don’t want you to think I don’t recognize that. I do,” Henderson said, describing a “certain candidate’s” effort to “lay out the case for losing before the election.”
Much of the rhetoric Henderson was referring to can be seen in the Trump wing of the Republican Party. That includes state Rep. Phil Lyman, a Blanding Republican who lost his primary bid for governor and has since tried, unsuccessfully, to argue that Gov. Spencer Cox cheated his way onto the ballot and that Henderson, in her role as lieutenant governor, is hiding evidence. Lyman is now running a write-in campaign for governor.
But despite her criticism, Henderson didn’t mention any candidates or politicians by name. When asked whether she was talking about Lyman, or Utah County Clerk Aaron Davidson, who have both said voting by mail is less safe, Henderson said she was referring to “anyone who makes those claims.”
Just several hours after Thursday’s conference, Lyman took to social media with a message he has often repeated: “The primary election results cannot be verified because Cox and Henderson demand that county clerks withhold basic elections records…Spencer Cox and Deidre Henderson are corrupt, illegitimate candidates.”
Although Utah is home to some moderate, less Trump-aligned candidates — for instance, outgoing Republican Sen. Mitt Romney — Henderson said the narrative around “stolen” elections and voter fraud is just as prevalent here as in other states, with Utah candidates endorsing that narrative. That’s problematic, she told reporters.
“We’ve seen this snowball over the past few years in a way that, like I mentioned, was easy to think it was fringe. And now I see it gaining traction. And that’s what worries me. I worry that we’ve reached the tipping point. I worry that it’s become normal to believe lies, and abnormal to believe truth,” she said.
‘Doubt the doubters’
Henderson’s message to Utah voters was threefold — firstly, “doubt the doubters.” If someone is spreading rumors that “shake your confidence in our elections, stop and ask yourself what their motivation could be.”
Doubt the doubters before you doubt the entire system, Henderson said.
Republicans are losing trust in elections, even in Utah. What should be done?
Candidates and their supporters should also commit, today, to accept the results of the upcoming election. Losing is part of the American process, she said — “Lose with grace, win with dignity.”
“Despite what pundits and politicians on both sides are claiming, no matter who wins in November, this will not be our last election. The next one is just around the corner. This is how we do things in the United States of America,” Henderson said.
And lastly, the lieutenant governor urged voters to take their vote into their own hands.
When ballots are mailed out on Oct. 15, make sure you’re registered to vote, that your address is updated, and that you know who is on your ballot. Vote early if you can, especially if you plan on submitting your ballot via mail. Sign up for updates with your county clerk so you know when your ballot has been received and counted. Contact your clerk with any questions.
Salt Lake County Clerk Lannie Chapman, who was in attendance Thursday, said that prior to 2020, she never would have imagined the state’s top election official talking about mailing personal protective equipment out to her office. Chapman said the county is developing a crisis plan and working with law enforcement in case the threats and intimidation ramp up.
“Since 2020, we’ve seen a lot more people a lot more interested in elections, generally speaking. That includes people that just want to understand the process better, to those who want to disagree with election results and don’t believe in the system,” she said.
Like Henderson, Chapman acknowledged there is a part of the electorate that will never be swayed — both politicians agreed on Thursday that there is nothing they can say to change their minds.
“I’m not going to be everybody’s best friend. I will always speak the truth and I will always follow the law. For some people, it just doesn’t fit with their paradigm and I have realized that,” Chapman said.
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