Colby Jenkins considering contesting 2nd Congressional District GOP primary results
Jul 26, 2024, 1:32 PM | Updated: 6:53 pm
SALT LAKE CITY — Republican Rep. Celeste Maloy has won Utah’s 2nd Congressional District GOP by 214 votes, but her challenger Colby Jenkins now says he is considering contesting the results of the election with the Utah Supreme Court.
“That’s one option we’re exploring for sure,” Jenkins told KSL TV.
The race was certified by the state on July 22, and ended within Utah’s legal recount territory of .25%, Jenkins has until 5 p.m. Monday to officially file with the Lieutenant Governor’s Office for that.
He said that the recount is still in play, but there are also multiple legal avenues in his effort to make sure “every legal vote counts.”
According to state law, he would have until Wednesday, July 31 to contest the results.
Late postmarks, cure process still questioned by Jenkins’ camp
Jenkins has already been denied by a federal judge to halt the state’s certification of the election.
His lawyers had argued that some county clerks unfairly rejected some ballots that were mailed on time but postmarked late by the United States Post Office — claiming it was a violation of the Equal Protection Clause.
Judge David Nuffer ruled that Jenkins camp didn’t provide enough evidence that rejected ballots had been mailed on time or that state officials treated voters differently. But he also acknowledged that there was a need to fix the postmarking issue.
“It’s probably clear from this exercise we’ve had in this case, that state reliance on postmarks is misplaced given postal service policies,” Nuffer said.
Jenkins team is pushing forward anyway.
“There are still legal arguments and evidence that that’s in place that we’re developing,” he said.
Jenkins argues that in addition to claims of ballots being turned in on time in Utah, but receiving late postmarks because of their trip to be postmarked in Vegas, that likewise cure letters sent by Washington County may not have gotten to voters in time.
“Was the cure ballot process appropriate?… Utilizing the same faulty mailing system for people to try and cure their ballot within a given deadline when they didn’t even receive notice until after the deadline. That’s one avenue to consider,” he said.
“There are constitutional considerations in terms of equal protection, how someone in perhaps Davis County can put their ballot in the mailbox on the 24th, was it the reasonable expectation that it gets postmarked on the 24th because it does its process there locally?”
Jenkins also argue that lawmakers knew about the issue as recently as May and admitted publicly that it could impact the outcome.
“And so we want to make sure that this never happens again and that people who voted within the guidelines have an opportunity to be heard. And we feel that those legal arguments, the constitutional considerations in play, have not adequately been heard.”
This is a developing story and may be updated.
