GOP Utah Lt. Governor Smacks Down Trump DOJ’s Election Intimidation Tactic

Donald Trump is still desperately trying to interfere with and rig the 2026 midterm election to prevent Democrats from taking control of the House and Senate. But even as his minions in the Department of Justice send threatening letters to states, Utah Lt. Governor Deidre Henderson (R) is resisting and calling them out.

As the November midterm election approaches, Trump’s DOJ is resorting to sending threatening letters to intimidate states into complying with his unconstitutional attempt to control voting, warning that “any election officer, including the chief election officer of the state, who knowingly retains noncitizens on the state’s [Statewide Voter Registration List] or facilitates noncitizens in receiving and casting ballots could be subject to criminal liability.”

Of course, voting by non-citizens is extremely rare, so rare that it could never impact an election result. This is based on an exhaustive study by the Heritage Foundation going back decades. Overall, voter fraud is microscopic in this country. Voting by mail has also repeatedly proven to be safe and convenient, reducing wait times to cast a ballot at physical voting locations.

Utah is a state that proves this, and it just so happens to be a red state that received one of the threatening letters from the DOJ. Well, Utah Lt. Governor Deidre Henderson is a Republican, and she did not give the DOJ the response they were hoping for.

“Got another love letter this morning from the DOJ sprinkled throughout with threats of criminal prosecution,” she wrote on social media. “I’m sure I’m not the only chief election officer of a state who is being targeted for following state and federal laws by resisting DOJ’s demands for private voter data that have thus far been ruled illegal by at least a dozen courts. This is truly bizarre behavior by the federal agency that is supposed to be protecting civil rights.”

Indeed, the courts have repeatedly blocked Trump’s demand that states turn over voter data to him, yet his DOJ is still desperately trying to secure it for him. This effort apparently includes threats of criminal prosecution, or more like persecution.

Not a single state should give Trump the voter data he is demanding. Voter data is private, and the president has zero power over the election process. States run elections, and it would take an act of Congress to change election rules. The only thing these letters are good for is a good game of trash bin basketball.

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