ST. GEORGE, Utah — Congresswoman Celeste Maloy emerged victorious again in a recount of the 2nd Congressional District Republican primary.
With Washington County certifying its recount results on Monday, Jenkins lost to Maloy by 176 votes.
Prior to the recount, Jenkins was 214 votes behind Maloy.
Jenkins still has a petition before the Utah Supreme Court contesting the results of the GOP primary.
He has alleged that more than 1,000 ballots were not counted because they were sent to an out-of-state U.S. Postal Service processing center.
Voters in the 2nd District could still have dropped them in a mailbox before the deadline, but they wouldn't have been postmarked until days later, he alleged.
The state's top court has asked the Utah Attorney General's Office to respond to Jenkins' petition by Wednesday. The Court could hold a hearing soon, if the justices opt to take up the case.
Monday night, both candidates released statements.
Maloy said despite the result of the recount, she is still waiting out the litigation.
“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.”
On X, the social network formerly known as Twitter, Jenkins said he is advancing “bit-by-bit” and added the outcome isn’t final.
“What was a race that was too-close-to-call is now even closer,” Jenkins says. “We eagerly await a decision from the Utah Supreme Court to ensure that every legal vote is counted, and every voice is heard.”
Washington County was the last county to get in their recount totals just before 5 p.m. A software issue that prevented a final result last Thursday stretched into the weekend with county poll workers needing to work all Saturday to fix the issue.
Washington County Commissioner Adam Snow came in himself as he said ballots in that county were ultimately examined 10 times.
“I offered to come in myself whether it was counting ballots, shuffling papers,” Snow said.
He says as far as those still skeptical about the election process between failing software and ballots that were processed in Nevada, the most he can do is be as open about it as he can.
“You stand there and you say, let me be completely transparent with everything that we did,” Snow said. “Let me tell you every step along the way. Let me tell you about the process. Let me tell you the other steps that I've taken to try and ensure that your vote is counted legally and accurately.”
Snow said the software issue in Washington County wasn’t that votes weren’t being counted, it was that one part of the software wasn’t talking to the other.
“It was supposed to move from column A to column B and it just wasn’t making that software shift,” Snow said.
In a statement, Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson addressed the software issue that not only affected the recount process in Washington but also in Tooele County.
“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, who oversees elections in the state, said. “We will be investigating this further to ensure it never happens again.”
Some Washington County commissioners like Victor Iverson spent more than 30 minutes speaking with members of the public after the end of the County Commission’s canvass hearing. Gestures and words from those residents indicated they weren’t convinced by every explanation.
Snow said the problems with tabulating the primary and its recount makes Utah counties more prepared for the general elections in November, not less.
“We could do this better. I don't think we're ever striving to stop being better,” Snow said. “The more we strive for a more perfect union, we strive for a more perfect processes and everything else. So I think we're more prepared. And after November, we'll be even more prepared.”
In the recount, Jenkins gained 16 votes in Washington County and one vote in nearby Iron County. Clerk Ryan Sullivan said of 659 ballots that came in after the postmark deadline to Washington County, 223 were processed by the Postal Service in Las Vegas.
