Utah Gov. Spencer Cox’s unsuccessful Republican challenger, Rep. Phil Lyman, announced last week that his campaign had “filed official notice contesting” the results of the 2024 primary — but a letter Utah New Dispatch obtained from the Utah Supreme Court on Monday shows his filing was rejected because it failed to follow proper procedures.

“Please be aware that a proper filing under the Utah Rules of Appellate Procedure is necessary,” a clerk for the Utah Supreme Court wrote in a letter to the Lyman campaign dated July 25, in response to his July 19 letter titled “Official notice of contest of the 2024 Utah primary election.”

“If you wish to file a petition for extraordinary relief, the petition must comply with the specific content and service requirements in Rule 19 of the Utah Rules of Appellate Procedure, as well as include payment of the $375.00 filing fee or submission of an appropriate application and affidavit to waive fees,” the clerk’s letter states. “I am unable to accept your letter and it is being returned to you.”

In response to questions regarding whether he still planned to contest the election or if they’re working on a revised filing, Lyman told Utah News Dispatch in a text message: “Yes, by the deadline.”

To contest a primary election, Utah law requires a verified complaint to be submitted within 10 days after the canvass. The statewide 2024 primary was canvassed and certified on July 22, so the deadline to contest this year’s primary is by the end of the day Aug. 1, according to the lieutenant governor’s office.

Lyman’s July 19th letter declared he was contesting the election, stating, “I and the Lyman campaign have made all efforts to obtain election returns including Cast Vote Record (CVR), tabulator information, ballot images, tabulator tapes, and back up project databases for all 29 Utah Counties.”

His letter notes Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson has “advised counties not to provide these records” — which is true, given they’re not classified as public records.

“We believe that there are votes recorded in the various counties that would not stand up to a verification process,” Lyman wrote. “We cannot perform the verification process without access to these very basic records, none of which disclose personally identifiable information.”‘

“This letter,” Lyman concluded, “stands as my official contest of the election results.”

However as of Monday, given the court rejected his letter, Lyman still hadn’t officially contested the results.

While Lyman has criticized the lieutenant governor’s office for its classification of the records as private, a separate office — the Davis County Clerk’s Office — verified Cox’s campaign’s candidate signatures, along with petitions for 31 other candidates.

Four days before the June 25 primary, Davis County Clerk Brian McKenzie issued a statement affirming “each signature was reviewed by trained election workers and either validated or rejected in accordance with the requirements” set by Utah law, and that each candidate who qualified submitted a sufficient number of valid signatures. McKenzie’s statement also outlined the process for verifying signatures.

Why is Lyman trying to contest the election?

While Lyman won his place on the primary ballot with support from Utah Republican Party delegates, Cox used Utah’s alternative candidacy path by gathering enough signatures to qualify. Throughout his campaign, Lyman has criticized Cox for qualifying that way, appealing to delegates who believe delegate nomination should be candidates’ only path to the ballot.

Lyman lost to Cox by 37,525 votes, with 45.6% to Cox’s 54.4%, according to official election results certified last week.

However, Lyman has continued to seek to undermine election results by attempting to question the validity of Cox’s candidacy without evidence.

Last week, a 3rd District Court judge rejected Lyman’s urgent request to inspect an unredacted list of GOP voters who offered their signature so that Cox and two other candidates could get on the primary ballot. The judge ruled Lyman’s attorneys “failed to meet the very high bar required” for such an immediate request.

With the denial, Lyman’s lawsuit faces an uphill battle. Though it’s still ongoing, it’s unclear whether it will be resolved before Sept. 6, the deadline for candidates to get their name on the general election ballot, which Lyman’s attorney has previously called the “drop dead” date for a legal challenge.

More challenges coming

Lyman isn’t the only candidate who plans to contest the election.

While election results have been certified, the Republican contest for 2nd Congressional District remains in flux. Rep. Celeste Maloy won by a mere 214 votes — placing her race within recount territory for her Republican challenger, Colby Jenkins.

Jenkins’ campaign officially called that recount Monday afternoon, before its 5 p.m. deadline.

Raising concerns about hundreds of ballots that were disqualified in southern Utah for missing postmarking deadlines, Jenkins’ campaign has also said it plans to contest the election in a separate legal challenge with the Utah Supreme Court, though that challenge is still forthcoming. Jenkins said his campaign is likely to file that lawsuit Tuesday.

Utah News Dispatch is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news source covering government, policy and the issues most impacting the lives of Utahns.

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