By Tracie Sullivan, for Iron County Today
Colby Jenkins is considering his next steps, including a possible recount and an appeal to the Utah Supreme Court, in the ongoing GOP dispute for Utah’s 2nd Congressional District.
Jenkins, who narrowly lost to Celeste Maloy by 214 votes after certification, is fighting to have approximately 1,300 mail-in ballots—possibly delayed by postal issues—counted. If successful, these ballots could potentially change the outcome in his favor.
The controversy centers on these mail-in ballots from Southern Utah, which were postmarked after Election Day, possibly due to delays caused by the U.S. Postal Service (USPS).
The ballots were sent to the USPS’s Las Vegas Distribution Facility for postmarking before being returned to Utah election officials. Critics argue this process may have led to the ballots being postmarked after the June 24 deadline.
Of the 1,300 late ballots, 429 came from Iron County, all arriving on the same day. Fourteen of these were hand-stamped, some as early as June 21, raising concerns about whether the remaining ballots were mailed on time but postmarked late.
This issue led Iron County Commissioner Paul Cozzens to refuse to certify the vote in Iron County.
“Every vote should be counted. These voters did everything right, and it’s not their fault the ballots were delayed in the mail,” Cozzens said.
The late ballots were excluded from the vote count, prompting Jenkins to challenge their exclusion in court. His lawsuit, filed last week, argues that excluding these mail-in ballots violates state law and the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause.
U.S. District Judge David Nuffer denied Jenkins’ request to count the disputed ballots and delay the election certification. Jenkins’ campaign is now considering all legal avenues, including requesting a recount and appealing to the Utah Supreme Court.
“We are still evaluating our options, including an appeal to the Utah Supreme Court and requesting a recount,” Jenkins said. “These ballots represent the voices of our citizens, and we need to ensure they are heard.”
In a recent X post, Jenkins highlighted a video from a legislative interim committee meeting in May 2024, where Sen. Don Ipson (R-St. George) warned about postal delays.
“If a ballot is mailed on Monday at a post office in Utah, when a voter sends his ballot it’s not postmarked until it gets to the facility,” Ipson said. “It used to go to Provo but now it’s in Las Vegas, where it’s postmarked. Then it’s two or three days later and the vote never counted. There’s been some election sway affected by that. We need to address that issue.”
Despite this early warning, Ipson declined to comment further when contacted by Iron County Today, stating he did not want to “weigh in on the issue.”
He later called back to confirm that the interim committee had opened a bill file during the May hearing to address postal issues and consider potential legislation for the 2025 session.
Jenkins criticized the delay, accusing lawmakers of neglecting an urgent issue.
“That was foolish. They knew it was an issue, they knew they had a major election coming up with a month of discussing it in an open forum, yet their solution is to kick the can down the road until it is more convenient,” Jenkins said. “Why not demonstrate leadership and address the problem before it affects more elections?”
Cozzens, who advocates for a return to in-person voting, echoed Jenkins’ concerns.
“If we can’t trust the ballots to be returned to the clerk on time, how can we trust that voters will receive their ballots on time to vote?” Cozzens said. “This is the third election with issues related to mail-in ballots. One year, more than half of the ballots never even arrived in the mail. We need to go back to in-person voting with mail-in ballots as an option, not the default.”
Cozzens also expressed support for Jenkins’ efforts and emphasized the need for transparency in the election process.
“It’s crucial that we address these issues head-on,” Cozzens said. “We owe it to the voters to ensure their ballots are counted and that the process is as transparent as possible. The integrity of our elections depends on it.”
Jenkins has until Monday at 5 p.m. to call for a recount. The county clerks then have seven days to fulfill the request.
Check back at Iron County Today for updates on this story.
UPDATE: Jenkins formally requested a recount Monday afternoon. The counties now have seven days to fulfill that request. Jenkins said he is in the process of reaching out to the various clerks to ensure he has people on site to oversee that process.