ELECTIONS, POLITICS, & GOVERNMENT
Colby Jenkins files petition with Utah Supreme Court to challenge primary election
Jul 31, 2024, 8:00 AM
Lt. Governor representative Rozan Mitchell, left, observes Shemia Splonskowski reviewing post marks at the Salt Lake County Clerk's office begin recounting the Colby Jenkins and Rep. Celeste Maloy race ballots in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News )
(Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News )
SALT LAKE CITY — Colby Jenkins has filed a petition with the Utah Supreme Court to challenge the certification of his Republican primary election against Rep. Celeste Maloy.
The Tuesday filing comes amid a recount of the votes cast in the 2nd Congressional District primary. Jenkins trails Maloy by 214 votes in the race.
Jenkins’ filing, obtained by the Deseret News, contests the certification of the primary election on the basis that mail from some counties in the state is processed in Las Vegas.
“Citizens in multiple Utah counties that have their mail processed and postmarked at SCF Las Vegas, claim to have filled out and mailed ballots prior to election day as required, but due to process delays, their ballots were not postmarked until after June 24, 2024, and therefore were not counted,” said the filing.
Jenkins’ attornies allege that not counting these ballots is a violation of the Utah Constitution due to the Equal Protection Clause, according to the filing. The filing claims residents in these counties were not made aware their ballots would have a delay in postmark due to their processing taking place in Las Vegas.
The filing says a Cedar City man named Mr. Steele mailed his ballot on June 17 and his vote was not counted.
Read the full story from Hanna Seariac on deseret.com.
Related: Colby Jenkins says he has requested a recount in Utah’s 2nd Congressional District race
