ST. GEORGE — While sharing the final results of the June 25 primary election for certification with the Washington County Commission Tuesday afternoon, County Clerk/Auditor Ryan Sullivan shared reasons why around 2,400 votes out 36,600 were not counted.
Due to recent events involving the razor-thin race for Utah’s Second Congressional District, which has now entered a recount phase, much attention has been placed on the county’s uncured ballots (unconfirmed signatures) and ballots with late postmarks.
The latter was a topic that left Sullivan visibly frustrated as he told the County Commission he believed the issue of the late postmarks may originate with the local branch of the U.S. Postal Service.
To keep the problem from repeating during the general election, both Sullivan and county commissioners said more emphasis will be placed on educating voters on the availability of ballot drop boxes and important election-rated dates.
“If I shout anything from the rooftops, it’s to use our drop boxes or vote in person,” Sullivan said.
Late postmarks
“I believe the system is broken,” Sullivan said as he addressed the County Commission about the late postmark issue.
Some 163 ballots could not be counted because they showed postmarks of June 25 or later on. State law requires ballots be postmarked on the day before the election at the latest.
“They possibly could have been turned in timely but received the wrong postmark,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan said he believed some of those ballots could have been counted if they had been postmarked at the local post offices on the day before the election before being taken to Las Vegas for sorting and stamped the next day or afterward.
The issue was also a point of frustration for Iron County Commissioner Paul Cozzens who voted against certifying his county’s primary elections results because of it. Out of 9,826 ballots cast in Iron County, 400 had a June 25 postmark and thus went uncounted.
In Washington County, County Commission Chair Gil Almquist said he has met with a local postmaster about the postmark issue situation and said the postmaster was very receptive to doing anything possible to make sure it didn’t happen again. However, he added that the issue would require working with postmasters across the region and lobbying for a potential legislative fix as well.
Sullivan added that he had contacted the inspector general of the Postal Service about the problem so something more might be done to remedy the situation.
“I just want to apologize to those possible 163 (voters) that, had I known this was a problem, I would have addressed it before now,” Sullivan said. “All I can do now is promise I can get it fixed.”
Renewed emphasis on drop boxes, in-person voting
Due to the postmark issue, both Sullivan and the County Commission are urging voters to either use the county’s ballot drop boxes or to vote in person versus sending it through the mail – especially when Election Day draws near.
“I would use a drop box any chance you can get,” Sullivan said as he spoke to St. George News following the commission meeting. “I can guarantee you 100% that if you put you’re ballot in a drop box up to Election Day when the polls close that it will make it to the election center 100% of the time.”
Sullivan and the commission recommended using the traditional method of voting in person.
“I do understand there are some people who have to vote by mail,” Sullivan said. “They live in a rural part of area or can’t get to a voting center or a drop box. If you’re going to do that, I highly recommend that you take you’re ballot to the post office and have them stamp the postmark on it and make sure it’s before Election Day. And if you have mail it – mail it really early.”
Uncured ballots and how the county deals with them
There were also a total of 342 uncured ballots – or ballots with signatures that were in question – that the Clerk/Auditor’s Office felt needed to be double-checked and confirmed, or “cured” yet could not be despite their efforts to contact voters.
Reasons for questionable signatures can range from innocent ignorance of the law – such as a parent believing they can sign their voting-age child’s ballot for them – to willful cases of forgery and voter fraud.
Voter signatures are compared against preexisting signatures on file, and if they do not match up, the staff at the Clerk/Auditor’s Office begin efforts to contact the voter who signed the ballot. This is done through mass emails, regular letters, calls, voicemail and text messages, Sullivan said.
Sullivan’s office reported that during the last two elections, the ballot cure rate has increased by 130%.
Ballot count breakdown
In all, 2,413 ballots out of 36,648 cast in Washington County were not counted due to late postmarks, bad addresses or an inability to verify voter signatures. A small number of provisional ballots were also discarded due to voters belonging to other political parties, submitting incomplete information or having insufficient identification.
As previously reported, Washington County’s voter turnout was 53.09%, and while the vast majority of ballots either came through the mail or were collected through drop boxes across the county, 170 people participated in in-person early voting with 1,022 voting in-person on election day and accounts for 3.25% of the overall vote.
Washington County’s ballot totals and how they came in
| Total of registered Republican voters | 69,026 |
| Total of ballots received | 39,061 |
| Ballots counted | 36,648 (53.09% voter turnout) |
| Ballots not counted | 2,413 |
In-person voting totals
| Early voting | 170 |
| Election Day voting | 1,122 |
| Provisional ballots | 86 (60 counted) |
Uncounted ballot totals and reasons they were not counted
| Returned past deadline (late postmarks) | 662 |
| Undeliverable (bad mailing addresses) | 1,370 |
| Uncured (unconfirmed signatures) | 342 |
| Uncountable (wrong election, other reasons) | 13 |
| Provisional ballots not counted (various reasons) | 26 |
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