Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Dig deep into Utah's local elections with KUER News. Check out KUER's voter information page for the how, when and where on voting in Utah, learn about the candidates in Utah's 6 major statewide races and follow this page for a steady stream of election coverage from KUER News. 00000174-456e-d547-ad77-67ef316e0000 Check out all of KUER's Statewide Election Profiles.

Lt. Gov. Cox Certifies Utah’s Election Results, Calls Trump's Claims Of Voter Fraud "Dangerous"

KUER News

The State Board of Canvassers: Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox, Attorney General Sean Reyes, Auditor John Dougall, and Treasurer David Damschen met Monday to certify the official results of statewide and multi-county races.

More than 1.1 million Utahns cast ballots in the 2016 election. That’s 82% of registered voters—the highest turnout of the past five presidential elections. Twenty-one of Utah’s 29 counties participated in vote by mail and Lt. Governor Spencer Cox says turnout was highest where voters had the option to mail in their ballots.

“We get a more informed voter as well because they actually have the ballot,” Cox says. “They have an opportunity to research what’s on the ballot instead of just getting in the ballot booth and finding out that there are three constitutional amendments that they’ve never read or heard of.”

Kane, Grand, Sevier and Uintah counties had the highest turnout at 90% or more.

Over the weekend President-elect Donald Trump tweeted unsubstantiated claims that millions of people had voted illegally in states like New Hampshire, California and Virginia. Cox called that sort of rhetoric dangerous and says it erodes confidence in the country’s democratic system. He assured Utah voters that there was no large-scale voter fraud taking place on election day.

“We have security measures in place before the election, we have audits post-election and we feel very, very confident that the results are what the results are,” Cox says.

Trump won in Utah with 45.5% of the vote. Democrat Hillary Clinton had 27.5%, and independent candidate Evan McMullin had 21.5%.

Nicole Nixon holds a Communication degree from the University of Utah. She has worked on and off in the KUER Newsroom since 2013, when she first joined KUER as an intern. Nicole is a Utah native. Besides public radio, she is also passionate about beautiful landscapes and breakfast burritos.
KUER is listener-supported public radio. Support this work by making a donation today.