Utah Supreme Court denies Jenkins’ request to count late ballots, sealing victory for Maloy

The Utah Supreme Court was unswayed by Colby Jenkins’ claims that southern Utah voters’ rights were denied when mail processing routed their ballots through Las Vegas, missing the postmark deadline and making them ineligible to be counted.

Down by just 176 votes following a recount, the plea to the state’s high court was Jenkins’ last chance at trying to overtake incumbent Rep. Celeste Maloy in the 2nd Congressional District’s Republican primary.

The decision released late Tuesday and authored by Chief Justice Matthew Durrant found that Jenkins “falls well short” of making his case that county clerks should count 1,171 by-mail ballots that were disqualified because they missed the state’s deadline for postmarking, which falls one day before Election Day.

In a statement released Tuesday evening, Jenkins called it “a sad day for Democracy” and said the ruling disenfranchises hundreds of voters.

“This ruling undermines fundamental voting rights and sets a troubling precedent for future elections. As leaders, we should not be in the business of outsourcing our Utah elections to another entity, such as the postal service, nor reinforcing the interference such outsourcing enables. That must change and this must never happen again,” Jenkins said.

Jenkins went on to assert that “despite this setback, the fight for voter rights is far from over.”

He also said he had reached out to Maloy to congratulate her on her win.

In her own social media post, Maloy noted in a video message that her victory comes at the end of a drawn-out primary, acknowledging that means many who cast ballots in the election didn’t vote for her.

“I just want to speak to the people who didn’t support me and say I’m going to keep working for you,” Maloy said. “I’m going to work hard for Utah and for the people of the 2nd District, regardless of where they fell in this primary.”

Looking toward the general election in November, Maloy vowed to continue working on issues including inflation, government overreach and spending, “getting the border under control,” and helping Utahns enjoy a more affordable life.

The contest was a battle of conservative endorsements, with Utah’s U.S. Sen. Mike Lee backing Jenkins at the Utah Republican Party’s nominating convention, after which former President Donald Trump gave his stamp of approval to Maloy.

Jenkins’ claims don’t show a constitutional violation, court finds

Jenkins claimed in his lawsuit that the state’s postmark requirement was unconstitutional because voters are treated differently based on where their mail is processed, and that relying on the U.S. Postal Service to postmark a by-mail ballot interferes with the right to vote. However, the justices found that Jenkins’ case did not adequately support either of those arguments.

Quoting a 2019 ruling by the court, Durrant wrote that a party “may not simply point toward a pile of sand and expect the court to build a castle.”

Utah Supreme Court grills Jenkins’ attorneys, questions ability to count late-postmarked ballots

The decision notes that attorneys for the state showed during oral arguments that most of those 1,000-plus ballots were not actually processed through Las Vegas. The state went on to argue that Jenkins had no way of proving that the late-postmarked ballots were actually dropped in the mail before Election Day. 

“But we are not required to resolve these factual questions because, regardless of the number of ballots at issue, Mr. Jenkins has not demonstrated a constitutional violation,” Durrant wrote.

As to the argument that mail-in voting’s reliance on the postal system amounts to interference in the election, Durrant wrote that Jenkins had not demonstrated any constitutional violations.

“Voters who wish to take advantage of mail-in voting can ensure that their ballots are timely postmarked by mailing them well in advance of the election deadline or by taking their ballots to the post office and asking for them to be postmarked,” the decision reads. 

A footnote in the order also notes that voters have the additional options of using an official ballot drop box or voting in person, neither of which involve the U.S. Postal Service.

In oral arguments, the justices had appeared skeptical as Jenkins’ attorneys made their case, indicating during questioning that the claim failed to lay out exactly what remedy Jenkins was seeking and why.

Following the hearing last week, Jenkins said that Utah’s Legislature should take up the question of postmarking issues, or even mail-in voting as a whole. His statement Tuesday called on lawmakers and the governor to “address this critical issue in the next legislative session to prevent such disenfranchisement from occurring in the future.”

In a social media post, Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson said the ruling had affirmed that Utah’s county clerks fairly carry out the state’s elections.

“The Court has made it abundantly clear that there is no legal basis to challenge the results of this election—for any race,” Henderson wrote. “The primary is over. It is time to move on. For the good of the state, I invite all current and former candidates to graciously accept the results.”