The attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump on Saturday has prompted calls to turn down the temperature of today’s politics. But since losing the gubernatorial primary election last month to Gov. Spencer Cox, Republican Phil Lyman has continued to stoke anger and frustration among his most ardent supporters with vague and unsubstantiated claims that his election loss might result from fraud.
That simmering rage started to boil over on Thursday morning after his quest to cast doubt on the signatures Cox used to qualify for the ballot suffered a setback at the hands of Utah’s State Records Committee. Lyman had spent weeks urging his followers to show up en masse to the meeting.
When it became clear the committee was poised to reject Lyman’s request to access the signature packets for another candidate, the pro-Lyman crowd became agitated. One man angrily stormed out, yelling about a “banana republic.” At one point before the final vote, they became so disruptive that some were ushered out of the room.
After the committee voted against Lyman, armed officers stood between the crowd and committee members as the angered observers filed out of the room.
“This has the aroma of mendacity,” one participant shouted as he left.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Phil Lyman, listens to proceedings during a court hearing in West Jordan, in an effort to obtain Spencer Cox's signatures, on Thursday, July 18, 2024.
Lyman disagreed with the characterization that his supporters had become heated in the meeting.
“I saw people having some frustration. I would not call that heated. You can infer what you want, but no, I don’t believe that was a heated hearing at all,” Lyman said Thursday afternoon.
Lyman’s campaign hoped to piggyback on another open records request seeking access to the signatures state Sen. Don Ipson’s reelection campaign submitted to qualify for the primary ballot. A large number of Ipson’s signatures were disqualified, causing him to fall short of securing a spot on the ballot that way. Ipson did secure enough support from Republican delegates to qualify for the primary, where he defeated former state Rep. Chad Bennion.
The theory, according to Lyman’s camp, is that since Ipson and Cox used the same signature-gathering company and those signatures were verified in two different locations - Ipson’s in Washington County while Cox’s went to the Davis County Clerk - it’s possible that some signatures that were disqualified for Ipson were mistakenly credited to Cox.
Later on Thursday, Lyman’s team was in Third District Judge Stephen Nelson’s courtroom asking for an emergency order to force the state to comply with another open records request and turn over the signature packets Cox submitted to get on the GOP primary ballot.
The roadblock for Lyman is how Utah voter records are classified.
Normally, voter registration information can be disclosed publicly. However, voters can opt to mark their records as “private,” which means they are not subject to public records law. There are also records that are “withheld” and cannot be disclosed publicly under any circumstance — like those of domestic violence victims or if someone had to file a restraining order.
Lyman’s campaign says it wants the state to turn over the information for every person who signed Cox’s signature petitions, including those that are private and withheld, so they can verify that the signatures were collected legally.
Lyman’s attorney, Jeff Farr, argued that being unable to investigate Cox’s signatures could result in a candidate not properly qualified for the primary advancing to the general election ballot.
“There is a public right to choose who they want their candidate to be. The Republican Party chose Mr. Lyman. Without the ability to inspect, there’s no way for another candidate or the public to evaluate or even challenge a candidate’s right to be on the ballot,” Farr said.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Jeff Farr represents Phil Lyman, at court hearing in court in West Jordan, during a court hearing on Phil Lyman's efforts to obtain Spencer Cox's signatures, on Thursday, July 18, 2024.
Lyman received approximately 2,500 votes from delegates when he defeated Cox at April’s GOP nominating convention. In the June primary election, Cox cruised to victory with more than 232,000 votes from registered Republicans.
Assistant Utah Attorney General Lance Sorensen countered Farr’s argument, telling the court that Utah’s open records law, the Government Records and Management Act (GRAMA), does not allow Lyman to access the records he is requesting.
“There’s no justification for using GRAMA to conduct an ad hoc audit of the verification process, and there’s certainly no justification for ignoring GRAMA so that plaintiffs may undergo this expedition in hopes of finding some kind of irregularity,” Sorensen said.
At first, Lyman’s attorneys asked the judge to order the state to turn over the records by Monday, the day that Cox’s primary election win would be certified. After saying they would not be able to conduct their own investigation in such a short time, they conceded the real “drop dead” date to receive the data is Sept. 6, the last day a candidate can be added to the November general election ballot.
Lyman said his strategy is to somehow disqualify enough of Cox’s signatures to have him removed from the ballot.
“Our posture is that he did not get 28,000 signatures, yet he was able to get on the ballot through some backdoor process,” Lyman said Thursday. “That’s what we would like to expose. We plan to challenge the results of the election as well. These things are happening, and we don’t have an off-ramp other than to see it through,” Lyman said.
Nelson took Lyman’s request under advisement and said he would issue a ruling as soon as possible.