Overview
- The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division sent a letter notifying Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson that she is under investigation and subject to ongoing litigation under the Civil Rights Act, the National Voter Registration Act, and the Help America Vote Act.
- The letter requires Henderson to preserve election records from the prior 22 months, including material from the 2024 federal election, and warns that destroying or altering those records could amount to spoliation that carries civil and criminal consequences.
- Henderson publicly posted a screenshot of the letter and said she was unaware of the probe, calling the inquiry harassment while her office has argued that neither state nor federal law allows the DOJ to take private voter information.
- The DOJ previously warned in July that it could pursue criminal charges after Henderson refused to hand over Utah’s voter rolls, and the department’s broader campaign to obtain sensitive voter data has been rejected by courts more than 20 times.
- The dispute raises immediate legal and political stakes: it could decide how far the federal government can demand voter files from states and it intensifies pressure on Henderson from both federal officials and factions inside her own party.