In Hurricane’s last City Council meeting, the town’s assembly voted on whether to remain in their Interlocal Election Agreement with Washington County or forge ahead and conduct elections using city staff overseeing volunteers.
Washington County Attorney Eric Clarke made an appearance at last week’s meeting. He told the council if they voted to end the agreement, in which the county pays for ballots, mailing, machine counting and, if needed, hand counting during an audit, they would be the only city in Utah to do so.
“Going away from the machines and doing hand counts is a less accurate way to count ballots,” Clarke stated. “It has worked for the last several years in Utah.”
Councilman Joseph Prete told those in attendance that, in his opinion, there is wrongdoing in the ballot counting process, though it was unclear which election he was speaking about.
“My feeling all along has been that, whether it’s grounded or not, there is widespread, you know, question mark about the election process and the machines,” he said.
Read more at stgeorgeutah.com.
This article is published through the Utah News Collaborative, a partnership of news organizations in Utah that aim to inform readers across the state.