SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — Utah Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson announced Monday that the recount for Utah’s 2nd Congressional District had officially been completed — and Congresswoman Celeste Maloy won, beating opponent Colby Jenkins by 176 votes.
Jenkins formally requested a recount of the ballots on July 29. One week later, Lt. Gov. Henderson took to social media to announce Maloy had won the race, earning 53,777 votes over Jenkins’ 53,601 votes.
“The county clerks and their staffs have done amazing work to count and recount the ballots” Maloy said in a statement to ABC4.com. “Their process has been thorough, transparent and their remarkable accuracy should inspire confidence in our election system. I thank them for their efforts.”
The recount process experienced some hiccups in Tooele and Washington counties because of a software error.
Lt. Gov. Henderson said Monday that the error — which occurred in software that was being used for the “electronic adjudication of ballots” — did not affect other counties using the software. Henderson further explained that the malfunction was software-related and was not caused by human error.
“I am concerned about the software error that occurred, but glad that we were able to react quickly to understand its scope and impact and get it fixed in the recount. We will be investigating this further to ensure it never happens again.” Lt. Gov. Henderson said.
Jenkins originally lost to Maloy by 214 votes and requested a recount after the initial election results came in. He also filed a lawsuit against the Washington County clerk over uncured ballots (which was later denied by a judge).
While Jenkins did not win the race after the recount, he issued a statement on social media Monday expressing his gratitude to those involved in the process.
“What was a race that was too-close-to-call is now even closer,” Jenkins said. “We eagerly await a decision from the Utah Supreme Court to ensure that every legal vote is counted, and every voice is heard.”
Maloy also said she is “eager to get a decision from the courts” and that her team will continue to monitor the situation.
“Meanwhile, I will continue to focus on advancing a conservative agenda for the people of Utah’s 2nd District,” Maloy said.
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