In 1944 the German army demanded that U.S. Gen. Anthony McAuliffe surrender his 101st Airborne Division, then surrounded by enemy forces in the Belgian city of Bastogne.
His response was succinct: “Nuts.”
Racing to McAuliffe’s rescue, Gen. George Patton is reported to have said, “Any man who is that eloquent deserves to be relieved.”
In 2024 state law gave Iron County Commissioner Mike Bleak no choice but to vote to certify the results of the recent primary election, even though he and other county officials were rightly upset that it meant not counting some 400 ballots that, through no fault of the voters concerned, weren’t postmarked by the June 24 deadline.
His comment was terse: “This sucks.”
Any public official who is that eloquent deserves assistance from anyone who can help.
Mail sent from Cedar City goes to be sorted at a U.S. Postal Service center in Las Vegas, even if it is being sent to another address in Cedar City. Such as the Iron County Courthouse, where mail ballots are counted.
Thus some 400 mail ballots that were dropped in the post on the last legal day for them to be postmarked did not receive that imprimatur until early the next day. Legally, they didn’t count.
Any voter whose ballot is not counted has been cheated. And in a close race, such as the razor-thin contest for the 2nd Congressional District Republican nomination, even a handful of votes can make the difference.
Iron County officials moved quickly, looking for some legal way to count those ballots. But time was short and, finding no flexibility in state law, they rightly signed off on the election results. To do otherwise risked invalidating the more than 9,000 ballots that were counted.
Utah’s system of mail balloting is generally successful and justly popular. Any flaws in the system need correcting so that public faith in the process will be justified.
The Utah Legislature should change the law so that ballots can be postmarked up until Election Day, not the day before as is currently required.
State and county officials can, and almost certainly will, redouble their efforts to inform voters of all the rules and encourage them to mail their ballots well before the deadline. Or take them to official drop boxes or polling stations on or before Election Day.
And whoever winds up representing Iron County in Congress should pressure the postal service to help. Keeping the Cedar City Post Office open late on Election Day and applying postmarks to ballot envelopes as voters watch could help democracy function. And it would be a great excuse for a community party.