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There will be no fine for a University of Utah dean who cheered Salt Lake City mayoral incumbent Ralph Becker in a pre-election email to students — at least for now.

It is against Utah law to politic from a public email account. But state and city officials say they are not investigating because no one has filed a complaint with their offices since the email was sent more than a month ago.

In a note to the roughly 2,200 students in the Honors College, Dean Sylvia Torti wrote that she voted for Becker "for the simple reason that our city is thriving because of him and I want it to continue to thrive."

The dean's email continued, "This is your city, your vote, your decision. Please take the time to educate yourselves and vote."

Shortly after hitting send, the administrator apologized and withdrew the apparent endorsement, writing to honors students a second time, saying that "the intent of my email was for you to exercise your rights and responsibilities as citizens, not that you should vote for any candidate in particular."

In the end, Becker lost to Jackie Biskupski in the Nov. 3 election.

Torti said in an email Tuesday that the note was part of her broader civic engagement push this semester.

Her goal "was to empower students to take their rights and responsibilities as citizens seriously, to understand that they have real agency in the future of their communities," she wrote, adding she believed "that by including my personal opinion, I would simply encourage more dialogue."

U. student newspaper The Daily Utah Chronicle first reported the story, detailing some students' annoyance at what they saw as an administrator's attempt to sway their vote.

A 2015 tweak to state code outlaws using public email for a political purpose or advocating for or against a ballot proposition. The penalty is a fine up to $250; it rises to $1,000 for further violations.

No one brought the email to Salt Lake City Recorder Cindi Mansell, who handles such issues for city elections. Salt Lake County Clerk Sherrie Swensen and State Director of Elections Mark Thomas had not heard of it either.

The new law, Swenson added, has not been tested.

Mansell said Monday she was not sure if the email amounted to a violation of the new statute, noting the dean had later clarified her position.

"The problem is, how do you fix that?" Mansell said. It will be tricky, she noted, to evaluate cases where follow-up emails are sent. "How do you right a wrong when it's already been done?"

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