Audit confirms Cox, others qualified for primary ballot

SALT LAKE CITY – An audit conducted by the Auditor General of the Utah State Legislature found that Governor Spencer Cox, Congressman John Curtis and Republican Attorney General candidate Derek Brown met the qualifications to participate in the primary elections. G.O.P.

The Office of the Legislative Auditor General was asked to examine the candidates’ signatures after Cox’s election challenger, Phil Lyman, raised questions about whether everything was in order. Tuesday’s audit found that while a random sampling of signatures revealed some errors, “the candidates met the requirements placed on them.”

The audit found that some signatures had been approved or rejected in error and that some signatures raised enough concerns that they were turned over to the Utah Attorney General’s office.

“Some parcels had no signatures rejected, others had some, but a small number of parcels had a disproportionate number of signatures rejected and it was suspected that there may be issues with the signature collector. In these cases, the office (Davis) removed County Clerk’s) removed the package from the verification process and sent it to LG’s office. LG’s office then reviewed the package and determined whether it should be sent to the Attorney General’s Office for further investigation as part of our investigation. audit process,” the audit said.

It was not revealed whose campaign these signatures belonged to.

“They didn’t find any signatures that didn’t exist. Everyone they reviewed in these packets was a real person,” said Ryan Cowley with the Davis County Clerk’s Office. “There was a real signature there. They didn’t find any private voters that were made up or had invalid signatures. They didn’t find any fraudulent signatures that were accepted.”

In a joint statement on Tuesday, House Speaker Mike Schultz, R-Hooper, and Senate President J. Stuart Adams, R-Layton, indicated their satisfaction with the audit.

“The audit confirmed that Spencer Cox, John Curtis and Derek Brown met the eligibility requirements to participate on the ballot. Although the audit revealed some errors in the signature verification process, they would not have affected the outcome of the primary election. Each candidate submitted more signatures than required by law and would have had sufficient time to collect additional signatures if necessary,” Republican leaders said on Capitol Hill in Utah.

“This audit was conducted solely to improve the signing process in the future and does not affect the validity of candidates during the current elections. We fully support these candidates and recognize their diligent efforts to meet the requirements to run for office. We appreciate the county clerks who administer elections in our state and commend them for their dedication and participation in the democratic process.”

Legislative leaders said bills have already been opened before the 2025 Utah Legislature to address issues the audit did reveal, including additional training, more uniform standards and even greater controls over signature verification and transparency processes.

“In addition, the LG office should establish an additional chain of custody practices for petition packages. While we witnessed some chain of custody practices, additional controls would provide greater assurance about the security and integrity of candidate petition packages,” the audit said.

In a formal response to the audit, Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson said she agreed with the findings.

“My office consistently strives to improve election processes and procedures and is consistent with our election laws. We are never satisfied with the status quo. That is why we appreciate the findings and recommendations of this audit, many of which we are ready to deliver.” to implement,” she wrote in a letter to Legislative Auditor General Kade Minchey.

Under Utah law, candidates can go through the caucus convention system or collect signatures to earn a spot on a primary ballot (or both). Governor Cox lost the Republican state party convention nomination to Lyman (the governor was even booed by people in the crowd), but went on to win the primary as he collected enough signatures to earn a spot on the ballot. Lyman is currently in a write-in campaign for governor.

The audit is similar to a study conducted by Utah State Auditor John Dougall, who found no significant problems with the way candidates collect signatures to earn a spot on the primary ballot.

In a statement posted to Threads on Wednesday, Lyman highlighted Cox’s failure to collect the correct number of signatures and demanded that the election not be certified until his questions were answered.

Read the full audit here: