Rep. Celeste Maloy wins recount of Utah’s 2nd Congressional District race by 176 votes

The recount called by Rep. Celeste Maloy’s Republican challenger Colby Jenkins shrank the already razor-thin margin keeping Maloy in Utah’s 2nd Congressional District seat, but not enough to change the outcome of the race. 

Recount results posted on the state’s election website at 5:19 p.m. Monday showed Maloy won with 50.08% of the vote to Jenkins’ 49.92%, or 53,777 votes to 53,601. Jenkins trailed Maloy by just 176 votes, down from 214 votes when election results were certified on July 22. 

Under state law, a losing candidate can call a recount if the vote margin is equal to or less than 0.25% of the total number of votes cast. Trailing by a slim 0.2%, Jenkins was within that recount range and requested one as was legally allowed.

While the recount found Jenkins enough ballots to close the margin by 38 more votes, it wasn’t enough to flip the race, and Maloy was declared the winner — as she expected when Jenkins initially called the recount. 

Colby Jenkins officially calls a recount, just 214 votes behind Utah Rep. Celeste Maloy

After county clerks officially finalized the recount Monday evening, Utah’s top election official Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson declared Maloy the winner of the June 25 primary. Maloy now advances to the November election, where she’s slated to compete with Democrat Nathaniel Woodward, Constitution Party Candidate Cassie Easley, and unaffiliated candidate Tyler Murset.

“Congratulations to Congresswoman Celeste Maloy,” Henderson wrote in a post on X. 

However, just because the recount has wrapped doesn’t mean the Republican primary for Utah’s 2nd Congressional District is buttoned up.

In addition to calling the recount, Jenkins last week also filed a petition with the Utah Supreme Court attempting to contest the election. In the filing, Jenkins asked Utah’s highest court to direct clerks in nine southern Utah counties to count 1,171 by-mail ballots that were disqualified for late postmarking. 

Though Utah law requires vote-by-mail ballots to be postmarked no later than the day before Election Day, Jenkins argued in his petition that rule “disenfranchises a significant number of voters who only reside in southern Utah” because mail in ZIP codes from those areas is sent to the U.S. Postal Service’s Las Vegas facility for processing before being sent back to clerks in Utah, which Jenkins argues resulted in delays that many southern Utah voters were unaware of and left them with disqualified ballots. 

The Utah Supreme Court has not yet weighed in on Jenkins’ petition, but must do so within 30 days from the day it was filed, according to Utah law. Jenkins filed it on July 30. 

Utah congressional candidate Colby Jenkins files lawsuit contesting the election

After recount results were finalized, Jenkins in a post on X expressed gratitude for election workers’ “tireless efforts” in the recount, but he did not concede. 

“In every step of this process, we have advanced bit-by-bit and the votes we’ve gained in this recount are one more example of that,” Jenkins said. “What was a race that was too-close-to-call is now even closer. We eagerly await a decision from the Utah Supreme Court to ensure that every legal vote is counted, and every voice is heard.”

Maloy, in a prepared statement issued Monday, said county clerks and their staff “have done amazing work to count and recount the ballots.” 

“Their process has been thorough, transparent and their remarkable accuracy should inspire confidence in our election system. I thank them for their efforts,” she said. 

Maloy — who declared victory when some of the remaining ballots were counted on July 9 — also acknowledged Jenkins’ attempt to contest the election remains a lingering issue. 

“I recognize that there is ongoing litigation and I am eager to get a decision from the courts,” she said. “We will continue to monitor the situation closely. Meanwhile, I will continue to focus on advancing a conservative agenda for the people of Utah’s 2nd District.” 

Recount uncovers software issue 

The recount results came Monday — on the seventh and final day required under Utah law for a recount to be conducted once it’s called — after two counties discovered discrepancies that were not found during the primary’s initial counting and canvass process. 

Tooele and Washington counties — strongholds for Jenkins — both uncovered software issues during the recount that caused ballot tabulation machines to not update results for adjudicated ballots. 

Adjudicated ballots are ballots that have unclear markings (such as two bubbles filled in rather than a clear mark for one preferred candidate) that poll workers are required to review to determine voters’ intent. 

Thursday, when the Washington County Clerk-Auditor’s office attempted to finalize the recount results, election staff received an “error message” signaling adjudicated ballots “were not reflected in the total results,” according to a press release the county posted on its Facebook page. That prompted the Washington County clerk to extend its canvass until Monday so his office could review all of the adjudicated ballots. 

Monday, Washington County Clerk Ryan Sullivan told county commissioners, acting as the board of canvassers, that his office had finalized reviewing the adjudicated ballots along with the rest of the county’s 36,160 ballots counted in Washington County’s 2nd Congressional District race. 

The recount discovered a total of nine additional ballots “that we determined could be counted” that were not initially included in Washington County’s certified primary results, Sullivan said. Five of those ballots were discovered to be postmarked before Election Day, while four were able to be cured after re-inspecting signatures. One ballot was discovered after recounting a particular batch of ballots that hadn’t been counted previously, Sullivan said.

Also on Thursday, Tooele County Clerk Tracy Shaw discovered a similar software issue affecting 55 adjudicated ballots, according to a news release issued by Henderson’s office, prompting that county to review its adjudicated ballots. 

“Nothing is more important to state and local election officials than ensuring that every eligible vote is accurately counted,” Henderson said in a statement issued Thursday. “This is part of the process and why we have recounts. I am grateful to Tooele County Clerk Tracy Shaw who, because of her diligence, discovered this issue, brought it to our attention, and corrected it.” 

Ultimately, of the 55 adjudicated ballots in Tooele County, 37 were cast for Jenkins while 18 were cast for Maloy, Henderson said in a Saturday post on X. She noted Washington County had the same issue with the same software vendor, Election Systems & Software, and was working to correct the issue. 

Washington County had the same issue as Tooele. They’ve been working with software vendor ES&S to correct it. Accuracy is the only acceptable outcome, and we are grateful for the diligent efforts and attention to detail of Washington County Clerk Ryan Sullivan and his team.

4/

— Deidre Henderson (@DeidreHenderson) August 3, 2024

“If there continues to be an issue with ES&S software, I will direct the county to use different methods, including hand counting, to verify the results,” Henderson posted, also noting that as soon as her office was made aware of the issue, her staff “immediately worked with each county to review their data and processes from multiple angles to find out who else might have had the same issue.” 

Washington and Tooele counties were the only counties affected, she said, and both took steps to correct the issue. 

In order to ensure the issue doesn’t occur again in Utah, Henderson said Ryan Cowley, her director of elections, “is thoroughly reviewing this matter and will report his findings and recommendations on Monday.” 

“I’m also demanding answers and accountability from software and voting equipment provider ES&S about what happened and how they’ll restore Utah’s confidence in their products,” she wrote. 

Recount report

On Monday, Henderson released a recount report detailing the software issue. In a news release, Henderson’s office said “it was determined that the error was isolated to these two counties and did not affect any other counties that used the software.” 

“Importantly, the report emphasizes that the error was a result of a software malfunction and not human error,” Henderson’s office noted. “Election officials in both counties followed proper procedures and identified the discrepancy, leading to the discovery of the software issue.”

Henderson, in a prepared statement, said her office will be investigating the issue further to prevent it from happening again in future elections. 

“I am concerned about the software error that occurred, but glad that we were able to react quickly to understand its scope and impact and get it fixed in the recount,” Henderson said. “We will be investigating this further to ensure it never happens again. I’m grateful to the county clerks and my elections team for their swift and thorough action to resolve this issue and ensure we met the recount deadline.”

According to the recount report, 36 adjudicated ballots in Washington County were added to the recount tally that were not included in the certified June primary results. Jenkins received 26 votes and Maloy received 10 votes, resulting in a net gain of 16 votes for Jenkins in that county.

In Tooele County, the 55 adjudicated ballots that were added to the recount tally produced 37 votes for Jenkins and 18 votes for Maloy, resulting in a net gain of 19 votes for Jenkins, according to the recount report. 

According to the report, Cowley asked Election Systems & Software to provide a public accounting of the software issue and submit a preliminary report. In that memo, released by Henderson’s office on Monday, ES&S officials wrote the company “apologizes for the impact the delays caused by this error had on election officials, the candidates and the voters, and thanks all for the measures taken to ensure Utah elections are accurate and secure. 

Additionally, Katina Granger, ES&S senior manager of public relations, issued a statement included in the recount report. 

“Upon inspection of the election database, it was confirmed that the adjudicated ballots were correctly counted and recorded; however, had not successfully saved to the reporting module,” Granger said. “The issue was corrected by identifying the adjudicated ballots that did not save properly, clearing out those ballots, and re-loading them in smaller batches, resulting in accurate and reliable results.”

Granger added that ES&S is currently working with state and county officials that participated in the recount to “audit all databases involved in the recount.” 

In the report, Cowley concluded that based on analyses conducted by clerks, election workers, ES&S, the Lieutenant Governor’s Office “is confident that the results of the recount are correct.” 

“However,” he added, “this issue is significant and merits further attention.” He then recommended the following actions to Henderson: 

1. The State of Utah should discontinue the use of electronic adjudication in any county using ES&S software indefinitely. 
2. The Office of the Lieutenant Governor should conduct a thorough review of all systems and results in ES&S-supported counties that used electronic adjudication in the June 2024 Primary Election. The objective of the reviews will be twofold: Identify if the commit results error was present, and if the issue was present, identify any discrepancies in the number of votes. The results of the review will then be published.

3. The Office of the Lieutenant Governor should conduct a review of processes and analyses that could be implemented to strengthen existing procedures. The goal of this review will be to ensure that not only this issue but any other issues will be timely detected before canvassing results in future elections. 

Read the full recount report here: