With her name on the ballot, Lt. Gov. Henderson sequesters from questions about election

Salt Lake City, Utah – Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson of Utah, who is running for reelection in 2024 with Gov. Spencer Cox, stated on Super Tuesday that she has recruited former Lt. Gov. Greg Bell to act as an independent advisor for any issues that may come up.

Henderson is removing herself from any questions about the race for governor in an attempt to avoid any perceived or real prejudice.

The week before, she sent her team an internal memo outlining the procedure for considering and deciding on matters about elections.

Ryan Cowley, the director of elections for Utah, will follow the described process for making choices for which there are explicit legal justifications.

Cowley and the lieutenant governor’s associate attorney general will confer with Bell on particularly complicated or contentious cases. Bell will research the problem and provide a recommendation to Henderson that is made public.

“As a former lieutenant governor, Greg Bell has both the expertise and experience to provide sound, independent recommendations,” Henderson said in a statement. “This precautionary measure is an extra effort to prevent any perceived or actual bias in the gubernatorial election.”

In Utah, county clerks are in charge of conducting elections and managing all associated tasks; no one in the Office of the Lieutenant Governor counts or handles ballots. Henderson will continue to have the statutorily mandated supervisory responsibility over state elections, aside from the current advisory process.

A similar process was put in place by then-Lt. Gov. Cox during the 2020 election campaign.