Memorandum – Declaration of Candidacy of Layne Bangerter
TO: Lieutenant Governor Henderson
FROM: Greg Bell
DATE: April 29, 2024
SUBJECT: Declaration of candidacy of Layne Bangerter
At the Utah GOP convention held April 26th 2024 gubernatorial nominee Phil Lyman nominated as his Lieutenant Governor running mate, Mr. Layne Bangerter of Washington County Utah. A controversy regarding whether Mr. Bangerter meets the Utah constitutional residency qualification to be eligible for the office of Lieutenant Governor has come up and, pursuant to the February 2024 policy memorandum of the Lieutenant Governor’s office, the election office has referred the question to me as an objective third party arbiter. Pursuant to the plan laid out in that memorandum, I submit this recommendation for Lieutenant Governor Henderson’s review and determination of the matter.
Lieutenant Governor Acceptance of Mr. Bangerter’s Declaration of Candidacy
Mr. Lyman and his selected running mate Mr. Bangerter appeared at the office of the Lieutenant Governor the morning of April 29, 2024 to submit the Declaration of Candidacy forms for Mr. Bangerter. The filing officer at the office has declined to accept the submission based on the interpretation of the residency qualification requirement stated in the Utah constitution and Mr. Bangerter’s acknowledgement that he has not been a resident of Utah for the five years immediately preceding the 2024 election.
Qualifications for the office of Lieutenant Governor
Article VII sec. 3(4) of the Utah Constitution states:
“No person is eligible to any of the offices provided for in Section 1 unless at the time of election that person is a qualified voter and has been a resident citizen of the State for five years next preceding the election.”
In consultation with legal counsel and the plain language of the constitutional provision, we interpret this qualification requirement to mean the applicant must have been a resident of the State of Utah for the consecutive five-year period immediately prior to the election. In this case, that means Mr. Bangerter must have been a resident of Utah since November 2019 and through election day, November 5, 2024. Mr. Bangerter and the Lyman campaign have stated that they disagree with this interpretation and demand that the Lieutenant Governor accept the submission of Declaration of Candidacy.
Election Code direction regarding accepting Declarations of Candidacy
Election code section 20A-9-201(4) states:
“If an 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.
Information regarding Mr. Bangerter’s resident status
While it appears that Mr. Bangerter has been a resident of Utah at various times of his life, media has reported, and Mr. Bangerter has acknowledged, that he moved to Utah from Idaho in 2021, and that he has not been a resident of Utah for “five years next preceding the [2024] election.” This conclusion is supported by documentation received from the Idaho Secretery of State’s office which shows that Mr. Bangerter is registered to vote and voted in Idaho in the November 2020 election.
Regarding resident status, the Utah Election Code holds that “if an individual leaves the state. . . and votes or registers in another state, the individual is no longer a resident of the state the individual left.” Utah Code 20A-2-105(4)(e)(ii).
Recommendation
In light of the constitutional eligibility requirements and the relevant application of the Utah Election Code, Mr. Bangerter does not meet the qualifications for the office of Lieutenant Governor. Therefore, the filing officers in the Lieutenant Governor’s Office are expressly precluded from accepting his declaration of candidacy. Utah Code 20A-9-201(4).
Therefore, I recommend the Lieutenant Governor apply these provisions of Utah Law, primarily Article VII, sec. 3(4) of the State Constitution, and decline the submission of declaration of candidacy. I further recommend that the Office notify Mr. Bangerter and his campaign of the rationale of this decision and of the process for challenging the decision regarding this controversy (Utah Code 20A-1-404).