Utah Supreme Court hears arguments on 2nd Congressional District ballot challenge

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) -- The Utah Supreme Court met for an emergency hearing on Friday, Aug. 9, regarding 1,171 uncounted ballots that have the power to swing the results of a razer-thin race between the Republican candidates in Utah's 2nd Congressional District primary.

A motion filed before Utah's highest court asked the justices to order the more than a thousand ballots to be included in the final tally where Congressional candidate Colby Jenkins trails incumbent Congresswoman Celeste Maloy by just 176 after a recount.

Jenkins and his attorneys, who filed the motion, argued on Friday the ballots were incorrectly invalidated. A.J. Ferate, an attorney representing Jenkins, said the ballots in question were mailed out on time and were caught in processing at a U.S. Postal Service center in Las Vegas. Due to the travel and processing, the ballots were incorrectly postmarked with a date after the deadline, the motion states.

Ferate argued before the Utah Supreme Court that the process violates Utah's Constitution, which does not allow for a civil or military agency to interfere with the election, by requiring the postal servi...