Legislative audit finds signature errors for Cox, Brown, Curtis but says ballot access requirements met

SALT LAKE CITY — A legislative audit has found some errors in the number of signatures gathered to qualify three statewide Republican candidates for the ballot: Gov. Spencer Cox, attorney general candidate Derek Brown, and candidate for Senate, John Curtis. However, the report is clear that each candidate met requirements to qualify for the ballot based on the Davis County clerk’s verification of those signatures.

 

“Subjectivity in signature verification standards poses a risk to correctly verifying signatures,” the report states. “This risk highlights the need for further clarification of signature verification standards.”

The performance audit presented to the legislative audit subcommittee Tuesday sampled 1,000 signatures from each candidate and found that each had some signatures accepted that should have been rejected and likewise had signatures rejected that should have been accepted when the Davis County Clerk’s office was validating their signatures packets on behalf of the Lieutenant Governor’s Office.