Lt. Governor Henderson: Placing Trump On The Ballot Would Violate Your Oath To The Constitution*
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An open letter to the Lieutenant Governor of the State of Utah
Dear Lt. Governor Henderson:
When you took office as the duly elected Lieutenant Governor of the State of Utah in 2021, you swore an oath to follow and support the United States Constitution. By law the Lieutenant Governor is the state’s chief elections officer. You oversee elections in Utah, including determining whether candidates qualify for their declared offices, a necessary condition to being placed on the ballot. Indeed, that is within your exclusive statutory province as Lieutenant Governor.
You would violate the law by permitting someone who is not constitutionally qualified for a declared office to be placed on the ballot.
Under Utah law, “[c]andidates for president of the United States who are affiliated with a registered political party that has elected to participate in the presidential primary election and who wish to participate in the primary election shall file a declaration of candidacy . . . with the lieutenant governor between August 15 of the year before the primary election will be held and 5 p.m. on December 1 of the year before the primary will be held.”
That date is fast approaching.
Candidates for president and vice president of the United States who wish to be placed on the ballot must meet the legal requirements of those offices. “If the individual who files a declaration of candidacy does not meet the qualification requirements for the office the individual is seeking, the filing officer may not accept the individual’s declaration of candidacy.”
The county clerks over whom you have stewardship must ensure that “the ballot voted by the voters at the presidential primary election contains only the names of candidates for President of the United States who have qualified as provided in this part.”
Article II, Section 1 of the United States Constitution sets forth qualifications for persons running for the office of president of the United States. A president must be at least 35 years old, a natural born citizen, and have lived in the United States for at least 14 years.