Iron County commissions deferred voting to certify the county’s election results until Tuesday in hopes of finding a way to count around 400 mail-in ballots that missed Utah’s postmark deadline.
By Bryan Schott, The Salt Lake Tribune
The Iron County Commission is contemplating not certifying more than 9,800 votes before Tuesday’s state-mandated deadline because approximately 400 mail-in ballots were postmarked after the deadline to be counted in Utah’s 2024 primary election, according to county officials.
Such a move could overturn the results in a hotly-contested congressional primary race.
On Monday, the Commission was poised to certify the election results at their regular meeting operating as the county’s board of canvassers. Instead of giving their stamp of approval, commissioners put off the vote until they hold an emergency meeting on Tuesday, the final day for Utah counties can certify their results.
Under Utah law, mail-in ballots must be postmarked by the day before the election. For this year’s primary, the postmark deadline was June 24.
On Friday, Iron County Commissioner Paul Cozzens wrote on social media that hundreds of ballots were not counted because they were postmarked after that deadline.
“Today I have learned that hundreds of ballots in Southern Utah have not been counted because the postal service post marked many of them late by several days, Cozzens posted on Friday. “As a county commissioner I am expected to certify the election results. I cannot, in good conscience, vote to do so on Monday while hundreds of voters follow state law, and their votes will not count.”
Cozzens wrote later that “a lot of folks reach out” after his Friday post to share they’d mailed their ballot before the deadline but later learned their vote would not count.
For more on Iron Counties election certification, read this story at sltrib.com.
Photo Caption: (Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) People vote at the Joseph D. Adams Public Safety Building in Lehi on Saturday, June 25, 2024.