Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
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' attorneys 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.
Jenkins requested the Utah Supreme Court count all mail-in ballots, including those with late postmarks, due to the processing delay.
Attorneys for Jenkins had filed a similar suit previously. Before the state canvass, Jenkins filed a lawsuit in federal court requesting that the state election certification be delayed so those ballots could be processed.
Judge David Nuffer called it an "unfortunate situation," but he denied the request for the certification to be delayed.
"Just because the delays occurred for these individuals does not mean there's arbitrary and disparate treatment of voters by the state statutory system. I find that that system posted puts the burden on the voter to obtain the timely postmark," Nuffer said, adding he thought the state's reliance on postmarks was misplaced.
Jenkins asked for a recount in Utah's 2nd District
According to state code, the recount will need to be complete by Monday, which is seven days after the day Jenkins requested the recount.
Jenkins previously told the Deseret News he wanted to ensure every vote counted.
"There are hundreds and hundreds of voters here in the congressional district, particularly the southern part, who have been disenfranchised of no fault of their own, who've suffered from the faulty postal system and lack of input and guidance from Utah election officials," Jenkins contended. "We just want to make sure this never happens again."
About the recount, Maloy said she was confident county clerks would verify and count all legal ballots.
"With the kind of margins we have, I anticipated a recount," Maloy said in a prepared video statement. "But I'm confident that the final result will remain the same."
