To Utah’s chief election officer’s surprise, the DOJ says it has been investigating her since 2025

Letters from the U.S. Department of Justice have become a constant in Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson’s mail. As Utah’s chief election officer, she has refused to release private voter data despite threats of criminal prosecution from the agency, and has been the most vocal top elected official on the issue — until now.

Last week, Henderson said in a social media post, the department revealed she was under investigation over her resistance to hand over the information, a notice that came as a surprise for her.

“​​As you are aware, you are currently under investigation and ongoing litigation as to the extent to which you have failed to comply with your duties,” the letter the department sent last Friday says, citing the Civil Rights Act, the National Voter Registration Act and the Help America Vote Act, and saying that Henderson is required to preserve election records for the prior 22 months.

“Your failure to preserve relevant data may constitute spoliation of evidence, which may subject you to civil and criminal sanctions,” Eric Neff, acting chief of the Civil Rights Division’s Voting Section wrote in the letter. 

According to the agency’s letter, Henderson, a Republican, had received notice of the investigation through correspondence to her office in 2025 and the lawsuit the Department of Justice filed against Utah and other states “for failure to produce their full voter registration lists upon request.”

Utah’s top election official gets DOJ letter threatening criminal prosecution 

“Um, no, I was not aware, but I guess I am now,” Henderson said in her post. “It would be nice if the good folks at the DOJ would focus on actual problems instead of baselessly harassing election officials.”

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox also issued a rare comment supporting Henderson in the standoff with the DOJ on Thursday.

“Legal disagreements between Utah and the federal government should be resolved in court,” Cox wrote on social media. “It is wrong for the DOJ to investigate or threaten the lieutenant governor for carrying out her responsibilities under Utah law.”

The letter is another push from the Trump administration to obtain copies of voter lists from states, describing the information as necessary for election integrity. Some states have turned over the sensitive data; however, most have declined to release all the information on their lists, citing state and federal privacy laws.

A review conducted by Henderson’s office confirmed that noncitizen voting isn’t a widespread problem in Utah.

Henderson was not available for an interview on Thursday, but she has said in the past in response to the DOJ lawsuit that “neither state nor federal law entitles the Department of Justice to collect private information on law-abiding American citizens.”

‘Not a widespread problem’: Lt. gov. releases early findings from voter citizenship review 

“Utahns can be assured that my office will always follow the Constitution and the law, protect voters’ rights, and administer free and fair elections,” she said in a February social media post.

Utah approved a law allowing the release of some voter information for a fee, including name, address, age range, party affiliation, and history of election participation. However, other personal information, like social security numbers, full birth dates and driver’s license numbers, remain “strictly private for all voters and may only be disclosed to government entities for election administration purposes,” according to the Utah lieutenant governor’s website.

Utah House Minority Leader Angela Romero, D-Salt Lake City, emerged in Henderson’s support on Wednesday, thanking her “for standing up for the people of Utah and defending our democratic institutions.”

“Voter fraud is not an issue in Utah. Our own state audit found that ‘99.72% of Utah’s registered voters are verifiably U.S. citizens,’ underscoring that widespread voter fraud is not a significant issue in our state,” Romero said in a statement. “We appreciate the Lieutenant Governor’s commitment to protecting voter privacy. It helps ensure that people can participate in elections free from intimidation, political pressure, or fear that their personal information will be misused.”

Henderson’s vote-by-mail request

Alongside state and local election officials from Kentucky, North Dakota, South Dakota, Georgia, New Hampshire and Kansas, Utah’s lieutenant governor also signed a court brief asking the U.S. Supreme Court to block the new U.S. Postal Service rule restricting mail-in ballots for federal elections, which establishes new ballot design requirements and requires states to collect certain information from voters and to share it with the federal government.

The litigation has seen many developments with different courts giving red and green lights to the rule. However, as of Thursday, the First Circuit Court of Appeals had decided to block the Postal Service from enforcing key parts of the rule, according to CBS News, arguing the Trump administration failed to demonstrate the rule would not cause “chaos and widespread voter disenfranchisement” if implemented before the November elections. 

Utah clerks don’t expect lawsuits over Trump’s mail-in voting rule to impact elections this year

A ruling from the Supreme Court on it is expected soon.

The election officials say in the brief that they take no position on whether the Postal Service had the statutory authority to establish the rule. They, however, contest the practical impact of enforcing the regulation ahead of the 2026 midterms. 

Absentee ballots have already been sent in some states, and the rule would also imply substantial work from Postal Service and state and local elections staff to be implemented, including building and testing new systems for voter data and ballot processing.

While the Supreme Court said in late August that the Trump administration is likely to prevail in its case arguing that 23 blue states don’t have the standing to stop the executive rule, Utah clerks say it is too late to implement such a regulation. Henderson said the decision “has no effect on Utah,” noting the injunction against the rule stemming from a different lawsuit remained in place at the time.

“The work necessary to implement the Rule in a manner that ensures workability and does not disrupt other ongoing processes that are crucial to a smooth election (such as preparing and proofing ballots, testing equipment, finalizing voter rolls, and training poll workers) cannot be responsibly accomplished in the time that remains in a manner that ensures both that the Rule is implemented correctly and other crucial preparations do not fall by the wayside,” the brief says.

Trying to implement the rule now, the officials warned, “will now almost certainly lead to mistakes, delays, and confusion for both voters and election officials.”