The recount called by Rep. Celeste Maloy’s Republican challenger Colby Jenkins shrank the already razor-thin margin keeping Maloy in Utah’s 2nd Congressional District seat, but not enough to change the outcome of the race.
Recount results posted on the state’s election website at 5:19 p.m. Monday showed Maloy won with 50.08% of the vote to Jenkins’ 49.92%, or 53,777 votes to 53,601. Jenkins trailed Maloy by just 176 votes, down from 214 votes when election results were certified on July 22.
Under state law, a losing candidate can call a recount if the vote margin is equal to or less than 0.25% of the total number of votes cast. Trailing by a slim 0.2%, Jenkins was within that recount range and requested one as was legally allowed.
While the recount found Jenkins enough ballots to close the margin by 38 more votes, it wasn’t enough to flip the race, and Maloy was declared the winner — as she expected when Jenkins initially called the recount.
After county clerks officially finalized the recount Monday evening, Utah’s top election official Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson declared Maloy the winner of the June 25 primary. Maloy now advances to the November election, where she’s slated to compete with Democrat Nathaniel Woodward, Constitution Party Candidate Cassie Easley, and unaffiliated candidate Tyler Murset.
“Congratulations to Congresswoman Celeste Maloy,” Henderson wrote in a post on X.
However, just because the recount has wrapped doesn’t mean the Republican primary for Utah’s 2nd Congressional District is buttoned up.
In addition to calling the recount, Jenkins last week also filed a petition with the Utah Supreme Court attempting to contest the election. In the filing, Jenkins asked Utah’s highest court to direct clerks in nine southern Utah counties to count 1,171 by-mail ballots that were disqualified for late postmarking.
Though Utah law requires vote-by-mail ballots to be postmarked no later than the day before Election Day, Jenkins argued in his petition that rule “disenfranchises a significant number of voters who only reside in southern Utah” because mail in ZIP codes from those areas is sent to the U.S. Postal Service’s Las Vegas facility for processing before being sent back to clerks in Utah, which Jenkins argues resulted in delays that many southern Utah voters were unaware of and left them with disqualified ballots.
The Utah Supreme Court has not yet weighed in on Jenkins’ petition, but must do so within 30 days from the day it was filed, according to Utah law. Jenkins filed it on July 30.
After recount results were finalized, Jenkins in a post on X expressed gratitude for election workers’ “tireless efforts” in the recount, but he did not concede.
“In every step of this process, we have advanced bit-by-bit and the votes we’ve gained in this recount are one more example of that,” Jenkins said. “What was a race that was too-close-to-call is now even closer. We eagerly await a decision from the Utah Supreme Court to ensure that every legal vote is counted, and every voice is heard.”
Maloy, in a prepared statement issued Monday, said county clerks and their staff “have done amazing work to count and recount the ballots.”
“Their process has been thorough, transparent and their remarkable accuracy should inspire confidence in our election system. I thank them for their efforts,” she said.
Maloy — who declared victory when some of the remaining ballots were counted on July 9 — also acknowledged Jenkins’ attempt to contest the election remains a lingering issue.
“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.”
Read the full story at UtahNewsDispatch.com.
