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SALT LAKE CITY — Since the night of Utah's June 25 primary election, Republican gubernatorial candidate Phil Lyman has called for an independent audit and has refused to concede to incumbent Gov. Spencer Cox until after his team analyzes the results.
The Associated Press called the race at 8:23 p.m. on June 25 with 64% of the votes counted. It is not uncommon for races to be called shortly after polls close as soon as it is clear it would be mathematically impossible for the trailing candidate to get enough votes to win.
Cox and his running mate, Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson, beat Lyman and his running mate, Natalie Clawson, by about 9 points, 54.5% to 45.5%, according to the latest tally.
The Lyman campaign has made a long list of claims about Utah elections in the days leading up to, and following his loss.
Lyman, a certified public accountant, said current election audit practices were "nothing like a good audit," and said Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson's role as the state's chief election officer has led to Utah having "selections," not elections. He also called state election officials "obstinate in their efforts to subvert citizens' requests to public records and transparency." And he endorsed the idea that the state's interest in publicly releasing voters' information outweighs their right to privacy.
The Lyman campaign's request to obtain Cox's signature-gathering packets was denied because of a state law — a law Lyman voted for. The law makes signatures private information in addition to other parts of code that allow voters to make their information private.
The claims made about Utah's elections likely left voters with questions about the fairness of the election process. To answer those questions, the Deseret News spoke to county and state election officials as well as Utah House Speaker Mike Schultz and an election law expert.
Built-in safeguards in Utah elections
The safety of Utah elections is built from the ground up, beginning with elected election officials in every county in the state. The Deseret News spoke with clerks from Utah, Sevier, Cache, Salt Lake, Davis and Tooele counties to understand these safeguards.
"The actual everyday work of voter registration, ballot preparation, tabulation, counting and reporting, that is all done independently of the lieutenant governor's office by each individually, independently elected county clerk," Davis County Clerk Brian McKenzie told the Deseret News.
There are "hundreds" of checks to ensure that ballots are valid, that they were cast by registered voters and are counted accurately, McKenzie said. This includes tracking every ballot "through the entire process" and tracing every ballot back to "a vote credit in participating in the election."
Before a single mail-in ballot is ever sent out, county clerks and their staff, like Sevier County lead deputy clerk auditor Barbara Crowther, are tasked with making sure they have an accurate voter registration list. County election officers regularly update voter rolls to reflect changes in residence and to ensure that newly convicted felons and deceased individuals are removed, Crowther said.
Once ballots are sent out, there are checks in place to guarantee there will only be one vote recorded per voter. Each ballot envelope carries a unique nine-digit "absentee ID number," Crowther explained, that allows ballots to be tracked through the system and prevents voters from casting more than one ballot.
Lifelong Logan resident Bryson Behm has been the county clerk since an April special election that followed years of him working in county election departments. He says the rigorous chain of custody documentation begins from the moment ballots are picked up from the drop box or post office, with pairs of election workers clocking in, tracking their time, taking down the name of the post office employee, counting the ballots and sealing them with specially numbered zip ties.
"We're all about seals," Behm said. After ballots are tabulated in what Behm refers to as "a more secure, encrypted Scantron machine," they are sealed again in secure totes that only he and one other election worker have a key to.
Signatures checked on ballots
But before ballots are ever counted, or even opened, there must be a signature that corresponds with one the state has on record, Behm said. Ballot signatures are compared with up to five others, including the signature found on voters' driver's licenses, by county employees with signature verification training.
If there is no signature, or a signature does not match those on record, county election officials will reach out to the corresponding voter through mail, and in many cases through text and phone call, to give voters the opportunity to provide the correct signature and confirm their ballot.
Tooele County Clerk Tracy Shaw takes her job of giving voters every opportunity to remedy rejected ballots very seriously.
"I babysit that process really closely myself," Shaw said, explaining they call and email every voter that has a challenged ballot. Voters can remedy their ballots through a "text-to-cure" digital affidavit process or coming in-person, Shaw said.
Beyond scanning the unique barcode on every ballot and meticulously tracking every ballot each step of the way, "There's a multitude of checks and balances already in place to procedurally make sure that people only get to vote once," Salt Lake County Clerk Lannie Chapman said.
