A possible recount in the 2024 Republican primary election for Utah’s 2nd Congressional District remained out of reach Tuesday evening for Colby Jenkins, who stepped into the race to challenge six-month incumbent Rep. Celeste Maloy.
One week after polls closed, the distance between the two GOP candidates continued to diminish, with Maloy sitting approximately 0.28 percentage points — or 302 votes — ahead.
The additional ballots processed Tuesday came from Davis and Kane counties. In the 2nd District, Beaver County held its official canvass Tuesday morning. The other dozen counties in the district will wrap up their counts over the course of the next week.
July 1, 5:49 p.m.
Republican Colby Jenkins remains within striking distance of Rep. Celeste Maloy in Utah’s 2nd Congressional District Republican primary election, but the number of ballots remaining to be counted has dwindled since election day, making it more difficult for Jenkins to bridge the gap.
On Monday afternoon, Maloy’s lead stood at 309 votes, but it’s still not close enough where Jenkins could request a recount, according to unofficial returns.
Maloy’s lead has slowly dwindled since late on the evening of June 25 when her lead was 3.64 percentage points ahead of Jenkins. By Friday, that margin shrank to 0.36%, or 382 votes. Her lead Monday was by 0.29%.
Washington County, where Jenkins has gained the most ground on Maloy, ran out of ballots to count after Monday’s update — and had more than 650 uncounted for various reasons, including lack of or non-matching signatures. Clerks will attempt to contact those voters so they have a chance to correct them, which must be done before the official canvass on July 9.
The other counties where Jenkins performed well — Juab and Tooele — are down to a handful of votes left to be counted. Salt Lake County, where Maloy leads Jenkins by more than 2,500 votes, still has 1,825 ballots which to may or may not be cured as of Monday afternoon. It’s unclear how many of those ballots that need extra attention are in the 2nd District.
When will a winner be called?
Utah’s 29 county clerks will finish tallying votes for their respective counties on July 9. That canvas of ballots will then be reported to the lieutenant governor’s office, who will complete the statewide canvass of results and formally announce the winner of Utah’s 2024 primary election on July 22.
A losing congressional candidate in a tight race can also ask for a recount under certain conditions.
According to state law, “if the difference between the number of votes cast for a winning candidate in the race and a losing candidate in the race is equal to or less than .25% of the total number of votes cast for all candidates in the race” the losing candidate can request a recount.
The losing candidates has seven days from the close of Utah’s state canvas to request that recount.
The deadline for a primary election candidate in a multi-county race, like a congressional election, to legally request a recount this year is June 29 at 5 p.m., the lieutenant governor’s office confirmed on Monday.
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