PROVO, Utah — A Utah County commissioner is calling on the county clerk to step aside from overseeing the upcoming election, accusing him of bias.
"I would like Aaron Davidson to recuse himself from the administration of this election," Commissioner Amelia Powers Gardner said Wednesday.
But Davidson told FOX 13 News in an interview he will not, calling the commissioner's demand "ridiculous."
"I think there’s several places that lines have been crossed. One is him calling out a candidate that’s currently of the ballot, that would be the Lt. Governor. Another would be filing an amicus brief on behalf of another candidate, which would be Phil Lyman. On top of that? Him targeting individual voters to see how they voted is really unacceptable and potentially a violation of their constitutional rights," Commissioner Gardner said.
The controversy erupted with a letter Davidson penned in response to a legislative audit about the signature-gathering process for Governor Spencer Cox, Congressman John Curtis and Republican attorney general candidate Derek Brown. Davidson was critical of Lt. Governor Deidre Henderson's handling of things, even after auditors found no major problems.
"The Lieutenant Governor did not handle the manual candidate signature verification process for statewide candidates according to statute and made a conflict where none would have existed had it been handled properly and transparently. Penalties for these violations should be pursued to assure the public that the security of elections in Utah are taken seriously," Davidson wrote in the letter.
The letter has been refuted by Davis County Clerk Brian McKenzie, who reviewed questions surrounding signature-gathering and found no major issues and said in his own response that Davidson has made numerous false statements. The Salt Lake Tribune reported on Tuesday that the letter has been circulated on social media and led to death threats against Lt. Gov. Henderson.
The Lt. Governor's office declined to comment on the issue when contacted by FOX 13 News on Wednesday.
"I'll admit I had a slight misinterpretation of the code," Davidson said Wednesday, explaining that he had mistaken Utah law for initiatives and referendums and those for signature-gathering candidates.
Davidson told FOX 13 News he has not called for Lt. Gov. Henderson to be criminally prosecuted.
"It was the word 'punished.' Now punishment can come in the form of a reprimand, the way the Lt. Governor’s office did to me in August because they said that my signature verification process in this county was too strict," he said, referring to a report the office prepared finding issues with how he handled the primary election.
Davidson has sparred with the Lt. Governor's office and some elected officials in the past, including a social media spat with Sen. Mike McKell, R-Spanish Fork, over Davidson's decision to not pay for postage to mail in a ballot (voters don't need to anyway and the county would be billed for it).
"I feel the safest way is in person and then using our ballot dropboxes and then the postal service," Davidson said.
Davidson acknowledged pulling voter information on Sen. McKell to determine if he voted by mail or used a dropbox, but denied tracking his vote saying he relied on what is available to political campaigns and anyone else.
"Absolutely not. I’ve taken an oath of office. I hardly ever go down in the ballot center. They process it," he said. "There is a record that is created when... the sorting machine process the ballot. That record gets created and goes on the 'has voted' record. And so everybody has access to the information if they pay the $15. I didn’t pay the $15 because I have access to the records. I don’t think there was any violation. Amelia Powers Gardner calling me to relieve myself of the duty of the clerk in processing ballots is just ridiculous."
Sen. McKell told FOX 13 News on Wednesday he has now asked the Utah County Attorney to investigate as his ballot record has been designated "private."
"It’s inappropriate and I've asked that it be reviewed for criminal liability," he said.
Commissioner Gardner said she supported Sen. McKell's request.
"That’s one reason I'm asking him to recuse himself," she said. "Because we have citizens and elected officials who are questioning his ability to do his job without bias."
