ST. GEORGE — In an effort to grow voter confidence in the accuracy of the county’s election process, the Washington County Commission is sending a letter to the Utah Legislature and Lt. Governor’s Office asking for a change in procedure they say will show how “free and fair” the elections are.
“We have heard from many of our residents that election integrity is of the utmost importance,” Commissioner Adam Snow said during Tuesday’s commission meeting.
Concerns over the county’s election process – and more specifically the accuracy of the machines that count the ballots – were raised following a recount of the razor-thin results in Utah House District 72’s primary election over the summer.
Contested election results
In the House 72 race, Joseph Elison initially came out ahead of Willie Billings by seven votes. Billings called for a recount that, according to the County Clerk/Auditor’s Office, Elison still won with the addition of four votes. Billings contested the results that were canvassed (approved) by the County Commission in late July.
Billings’ argument against the results came from an audit done on the election results that involved 1,000 sample votes. Billings and his supporters said the audit results showed he won the race in a 60/40 split and subsequently filed a lawsuit over the matter. The lawsuit was withdrawn soon after due to the potential financial strain court costs could incur, Billings said.
Much of Billings’ and his supporters’ argument is focused on the machines used in the auditing process and County Clerk/Auditor Susan Lewis not having her office perform a hand recount of the votes.
Lewis has repeatedly stated that the audit of the recount is to test the accuracy of the machines only and is not meant to be used as a sampling of the overall election. Billings argues the audit should be seen as an accurate sampling and still wants to see a hand recount of the results.
Lewis has declined to perform a hand-recount due to worries of human error in the counting process.
The County Commission’s letter
While the County Commission has stood by the election results presented by Lewis’ office, they also acknowledge that people in the county are concerned about the integrity and accuracy of their local elections.
“We must ensure everybody gets to have faith that these are free and fair elections in our county,” Snow said, adding that the commission also understands there are election concerns statewide.
Currently, 27 of Utah’s 29 counties, including Washington County, use ballot-counting machines from the ES&S (Election Systems and Software) company. These machines scan the ballots in much the same manner as machines in schools used to scan test results. As per Utah law, these machines are not connected to the internet.
The two counties that don’t use ES&S machines are Beaver and Salt Lake.
In its letter to the Lt. Governor’s Office and Legislature, the commission is asking them to provide “additional transparency and accuracy” in the election process statewide by implementing the procedures proposed in the letter.
The commission is asking for a trusted and independent third-party to conduct post-election audits in counties across the state. These recount audits also would be done by machine and hand in order to best compare the results.
Vote tallies would also be done 50 at a time, as ballots are kept in individual batches of 50 and are much easier to manage than overall election results, Snow said.
“We recommend the Legislature direct the Lieutenant Governor’s office to enlist a reputable third-party auditor to validate the accuracy of the ballot counter machines with a sample hand count as part of the audit process,” the letter states.
The letter also asks that such changes be made permanent. It also calls for an elections commission to be established that would annually review and implement additional election security measures and report its findings to the public.
“If we can show that the machine tallied the ballots properly and that it counted the tallies properly, it removes any questions of a loophole that the machines don’t count accurately,” Snow said.
It was noted by the commissioners that the letter only addresses concerns related to the ballot-counting machines and not other issues residents have raised regarding elections. As well, the commissioners said they are limited in what they can do related to changing voting procedures due to state law. That is the purview of the Lt. Governor’s Office and the Legislature.
“We want to give more evidence and confidence to the voters that the ballots are being handled and counted properly,” Commissioner Victor Iverson said. “It is critical that our voters have that confidence.”
Snow said Washington County is working with other counties on the elections issue with copies of the letter anticipated to be sent to the Legislature from those counties also seeking a change in procedure.
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