SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Supreme Court has rejected congressional candidate Colby Jenkins' petition challenging the results of the Republican primary election.
In an order issued by Chief Justice Matthew Durrant, Jenkins' request to count late-postmarked ballots was denied. The justices ruled that election officials in Utah complied with the law, and Utah's postmark laws are constitutional.
"Nor does Mr. Jenkins give us anything, in the form of case law or argument, that would allow us to conclude that the statutory postmark requirement invites unconstitutional interference with the right to vote. And a constitutional violation is not apparent under these facts. 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," Chief Justice Durrant wrote.
Jenkins lost the Republican primary by 176 votes to incumbent Congresswoman Celeste Maloy. He filed a petition with the Utah Supreme Court contesting the results, arguing that more than 1,100 ballots should be counted because many of them were sent to an out-of-state U.S. Postal Service processing center before being shipped back to Utah, missing the postmark deadline in Utah.
In arguments before Court last week, the justices seemed skeptical of his claims.
Jenkins' campaign did not immediately have a comment on the ruling.
In a video statement, Rep. Maloy addressed voters in the 2nd Congressional District.
"I know it was a really long election season and I know it was a really close race and I know that that means a lot of people didn't vote for me. So I just want to speak to the people who didn't support me and say, I'm going to keep working for you. I'm going to work hard for Utah and for the people of the 2nd District, regardless of where they fell in this primary for the people who did support me," she said.
Rep. Maloy went on to say she intended to represent "everybody" not just "half of the Republicans in the district," pushing priorities like inflation, spending and U.S. border security.
Read the Jenkins ruling here:
