ST. GEORGE — Trailing by just over 300 votes, Utah Republican congressional candidate Colby Jenkins filed a lawsuit in state court on Friday asking a judge to order the Washington County clerk to provide his campaign with a list of voters whose ballots had been submitted but disqualified from being counted.
Attorneys for Jenkins — who was nominated by GOP delegates and has been nipping at the heels of incumbent U.S. Rep. Celeste Maloy since the first votes were reported last Tuesday night — said that the Salt Lake County clerk’s office provided their “cure” list, containing the names of voters whose ballots were not counted, often because the signatures do not match the signatures the clerk has on file.
Under state law, voters are notified when their ballots are set aside and they are given a period of time to “cure” the error. Having the list of names would enable Jenkins’ campaign to contact those voters and make sure their votes count.
But Washington County Clerk Ryan Sullivan refused to release the list. In a brief response to Jenkins’ lawsuit, Washington County Attorney Eric Clarke said that Jenkins’ lawsuit is based on a “misinterpretation” of the state election code and that the clerk has the discretion to release the list or not.
Read the full story here: Salt Lake Tribune.
Written by ROBERT GEHRKE, sltrib.com.