Utahns looking for early election results Tuesday evening may see delays due to new guidance from the state’s top elections official.
Live updates: Follow along as Utah votes and ballots are counted.
In an email on Monday, Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson’s office directed all county clerk’s offices around the state to hold off on posting election results, “until EVERY voter at EVERY vote center across the state has been allowed to vote.”
“We hope this will not delay the release of results too late, however, the most important thing is allowing everyone to cast their ballot without being subject to preliminary results,” said Mark Mitchell, Utah’s director of elections systems, in an email that was sent to The Salt Lake Tribune.
In a separate news release, Henderson said initial results would be posted at 8 p.m. Tuesday evening if all counties had completed in-person voting.
“While I’m hopeful early election results will go live shortly after polls close at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, this guidance may impact the release timeline for results in Utah,” Henderson said in the news release. “Eligible voters deserve the opportunity to cast their ballots without outside influence, including data from preliminary results.”
The guidance from Henderson’s office comes after there had been a delay in getting mail-in ballots to voters in Carbon and Iron counties, resulting in the counties opening additional polling locations and expanding early voting. The Monday email says the change is being done, “in the event that we have long lines at polling locations.”
Both Iron and Carbon counties suffered after a distribution mishap with a company distributing their ballots led to thousands of ballots being delayed in getting to their destinations.
