Utah Gov. Spencer Cox’s unsuccessful Republican challenger, Rep. Phil Lyman, announced last week that his campaign had “filed official notice contesting” the results of the 2024 primary — but a letter Utah New Dispatch obtained from the Utah Supreme Court on Monday shows his filing was rejected because it failed to follow proper procedures.
“Please be aware that a proper filing under the Utah Rules of Appellate Procedure is necessary,” a clerk for the Utah Supreme Court wrote in a letter to the Lyman campaign dated July 25, in response to his July 19 letter titled “Official notice of contest of the 2024 Utah primary election.”
“If you wish to file a petition for extraordinary relief, the petition must comply with the specific content and service requirements in Rule 19 of the Utah Rules of Appellate Procedure, as well as include payment of the $375.00 filing fee or submission of an appropriate application and affidavit to waive fees,” the clerk’s letter states. “I am unable to accept your letter and it is being returned to you.”
In response to questions regarding whether he still planned to contest the election or if they’re working on a revised filing, Lyman told Utah News Dispatch in a text message: “Yes, by the deadline.”
To contest a primary election, Utah law requires a verified complaint to be submitted within 10 days after the canvass. The statewide 2024 primary was canvassed and certified on July 22, so the deadline to contest this year’s primary is by the end of the day Aug. 1, according to the lieutenant governor’s office.
Lyman’s July 19th letter declared he was contesting the election, stating, “I and the Lyman campaign have made all efforts to obtain election returns including Cast Vote Record (CVR), tabulator information, ballot images, tabulator tapes, and back up project databases for all 29 Utah Counties.”
His letter notes Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson has “advised counties not to provide these records” — which is true, given they’re not classified as public records.
“We believe that there are votes recorded in the various counties that would not stand up to a verification process,” Lyman wrote. “We cannot perform the verification process without access to these very basic records, none of which disclose personally identifiable information.”’
“This letter,” Lyman concluded, “stands as my official contest of the election results.”
However as of Monday, given the court rejected his letter, Lyman still hadn’t officially contested the results.
While Lyman has criticized the lieutenant governor’s office for its classification of the records as private, a separate office — the Davis County Clerk’s Office — verified Cox’s campaign’s candidate signatures, along with petitions for 31 other candidates.
Four days before the June 25 primary, Davis County Clerk Brian McKenzie issued a statement affirming “each signature was reviewed by trained election workers and either validated or rejected in accordance with the requirements” set by Utah law, and that each candidate who qualified submitted a sufficient number of valid signatures. McKenzie’s statement also outlined the process for verifying signatures.
To read the full story visit UtahNewsDisptach.com.
