Salt Lake Tribune: “There’s an innocuous-looking item on Wednesday’s Judiciary Interim Committee agenda titled ‘Election Integrity,’ which says the panel will ‘hear presentations on perspectives regarding election integrity.’ In reality, the event has turned into a rallying point for right-wing groups who are pushing for a ‘forensic audit’ of the 2020 election in Utah. There’s a coordinated effort on social media to turn the meeting into a show of force, which activists hope will be a springboard to pressure lawmakers into launching an Arizona-style audit of the election results. It’s important to note that former President Donald Trump won Utah by nearly 21 points over Joe Biden. One message in a Telegram group focused on auditing Utah’s election says the meeting is ‘the lynchpin (sic) for an audit.’ There’s also a pre-meeting rally scheduled for Wednesday. ‘This committee is FRIENDLY and should be treated as an ally (for now),’ the post reads.”

“The item was placed on the agenda by House co-chair Karianne Lisonbee, R-Clearfield. ‘Since the beginning of this interim, election integrity has been an approved study item on our list. For this agenda item we invited the county clerks, the lieutenant governor and anyone who is working on a bill in this policy space to participate in the committee discussion,’ Lisonbee said via text message. Lisonbee did not answer whether she favors an audit of the election, but the committee is giving a prime speaking slot to Rep. Steve Christiansen, R-South Jordan, who has become one of the leaders of the effort. Biden bested Trump in Salt Lake County by nearly 11 percentage points. Christiansen has been pushing for an audit since right after the 2020 election when he asked the Legislative Audit Committee to review the vote in Salt Lake County. That committee, made up of legislative leadership, has not yet acted on his request.”