Utah Attorney General Derek Brown announced this week that 11 contractors with signature gathering companies are facing “forgery and forgery-related charges.”
The allegedly forged signatures were largely captured during the signature verification process, charging documents said, and were not included in the counted signatures that allowed candidates to qualify for the ballot.
The individuals charged collected signatures in five of Utah’s 29 counties — Iron, Salt Lake, Tooele, Utah and Washington. Approximately five of the contractors worked with Gathering, Inc., also known as Gather, and the others' employers were not listed on charging documents.
All 11, according to the charging documents, collected signatures during the 2024 primary election cycle.
Nearly 60 candidates in Utah contests — from the gubernatorial race, to congressional races, to state legislative races — submitted signature petitions for verification last election cycle. In Utah, candidates can either qualify for the ballot by gathering a certain number of signatures from members of their party, the volume varying by the office, or being chosen by party delegates.
Read the full report at sltrib.com.
This article is published through the Utah News Collaborative, a partnership of news organizations in Utah that aims to inform readers across the state.