Utah congressional candidate contests election results in state Supreme Court as recount begins

The closely trailing Republican challenger for Utah’s 2nd District U.S. House seat is challenging the primary election results in state Supreme Court in a last-ditch effort to recover enough disqualified ballots to overtake his opponent. Colby Jenkins was 214 votes or 0.2 percentage points behind U.S. Rep. Celeste Maloy when counties certified their results last month, placing the race within recount territory. Jenkins formally requested the recount on Monday but followed it up late Tuesday with a lawsuit contesting the certification of results over 1,171 ballots that had been disqualified for late postmarking. He is asking the Utah Supreme Court to direct clerks in nine counties to count ballots disqualified because of invalid or late postmarks.