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SALT LAKE CITY — A pair of Republican candidates have filed a lawsuit against Salt Lake County Clerk Sherrie Swensen, a Democrat, over whether some ballots in the largely by-mail election were sent out in a timely manner.
The suit was filed Thursday by Swensen's Republican opponent in the clerk's race, Rozan Mitchell, and a state Senate candidate, Rep. Dan McCay, R-Riverton. Mitchell was Swensen's elections director until she took an unpaid leave of absence to run.
Third District Court Judge Robert Faust is scheduled to hear the case Monday. Mitchell and McCay are seeking a court order requiring Swensen to provide a list of voters whose ballots were not timely mailed.
Swensen disputed the allegations and said they were politically motivated.
"I think it's pure politics at this point. That's unfortunate, but it's true," Swensen said. She said voter records are continually updated and new ballots printed as county residents register to vote or alert her office they have moved.
But McCay called it "a clear case of voter disenfranchisement that is squarely at the feet of the clerk's office," citing reports from media and constituents suggesting "there could be thousands of voters who haven't received a ballot in the mail."
I think it's pure politics at this point. That's unfortunate, but it's true.
–Sherrie Swensen, SL County clerk
The lawsuit states that based on statements from the county election office to the media in early October, "between 14,000 to 32,000 ballots were not timely mailed," apparently when the first batch of ballots was sent out on Oct. 8.
Later McCay shared an email from an analyst who put together a spreadsheet of more than 61,000 "legit" Salt Lake County registered voters who did not receive a ballot in the mail.
The analyst, Abby Coura, did not respond to requests for additional information about how the list was put together. She said in the email it was compiled by comparing a list of voters sent a ballot to the state's list of voters as of Oct. 20.
Mitchell said she did not know specifics.
"We aren't even sure of the exact number, but we're thinking it's about 40,000 voters that should have gotten their ballot," Mitchell said. Asked where that number came from, she said, "let's just say there was a substantial amount."
Mitchell, a consultant on elections in Utah County, said she personally had heard from "at least a dozen" voters who had not received their ballot and said she feels Swensen "is trying to cover this up. She's not putting it all out there."
Swensen said she's confident ballots have been sent to all eligible voters.
She said a total of 532,000 ballots have been mailed out for this election by her office, including to newly registered voters as well as to voters seeking a replacement because they had moved.
There are now about 517,000 registered voters in Salt Lake County, she said, but the initial mailing on Oct. 8 was about 493,000 ballots that went to "all the registered voters we had at that time."
This is a clear case of voter disenfranchisement that is squarely at the feet of the clerk's office.
–Rep. Dan McCay, state Senate candidate
Some of the confusion surrounding the ballots came from media reports in early October that some 40,000 more envelopes than ballots were initially ordered, Swensen said, resulting in calls from some campaigns.
"They heard it wrong," she said, noting her office always has "a huge buffer" of envelopes but found out on Oct. 19 that the printing company mailing ballots had run out even though 560,000 envelopes were ordered.
The shortage of envelopes caused a "little delay" in the mailing of 5,542 ballots that should have gone out the week of Oct. 15, Swensen said, but they went out the following week.
Ballots "absolutely were" sent out in a timely manner, Swensen said. "I've done everything I can do to try to make sure everyone can vote. That's always been my goal."
Swensen said any voters who don't have a ballot yet can go to an early voting site or wait until Election Day and cast a ballot in person. Information on voting locations is available at got-vote.org for Salt Lake County or vote.utah.gov.
