§ 20A-4-304 — Declaration of results -- Canvassers' report.

(1) (1)(a) Except as provided in Part 6, Municipal Alternate Voting Methods Pilot Project, a board of canvassers shall declare "elected" or "nominated" those persons who:
(1)(a)(i) had the highest number of votes; and
(1)(a)(ii) sought election or nomination to an office completely within the board's jurisdiction.
(1)(b) Except as provided in Part 6, Municipal Alternate Voting Methods Pilot Project, a board of canvassers shall declare a "tie vote" if:
(1)(b)(i) two or more candidates for an office receive an equal and the highest number of votes for that office; or
(1)(b)(ii) in a race for an at-large office:
(1)(b)(ii)(A) two or more candidates receive an equal number of votes; and
(1)(b)(ii)(B) a recount is necessary to determine which candidates are elected to the at-large office.
(1)(c) A board of canvassers shall declare:
(1)(c)(i) "approved" those ballot propositions that:
(1)(c)(i)(A) had more "yes" votes than "no" votes; and
(1)(c)(i)(B) were submitted only to the voters within the board's jurisdiction; or
(1)(c)(ii) "rejected" those ballot propositions that:
(1)(c)(ii)(A) had more "no" votes than "yes" votes or an equal number of "no" votes and "yes" votes; and
(1)(c)(ii)(B) were submitted only to the voters within the board's jurisdiction.
(1)(d) A board of canvassers shall:
(1)(d)(i) certify the vote totals for candidates and for and against ballot propositions that were submitted to voters within and beyond the board's jurisdiction and transmit those vote totals to the lieutenant governor; and
(1)(d)(ii) if applicable, certify the results of each special district election to the special district clerk.
(2) The election officer shall submit a report to the board of canvassers that includes the following information:
(2)(a) a statement of votes cast, disclosing:
(2)(a)(i) the total number of votes cast in the board's jurisdiction; and
(2)(a)(ii) for each office that appeared on the ballot:
(2)(a)(ii)(A) the name of each candidate whose name appeared on the ballot; and
(2)(a)(ii)(B) whether the candidate is an unaffiliated candidate, a valid write-in candidate, or, if the candidate is affiliated with or the nominee of a registered political party, the name of the registered political party;
(2)(b) the title of each ballot proposition that appeared on the ballot;
(2)(c) the total number of votes given in the board's jurisdiction to each candidate, and for and against each ballot proposition;
(2)(d) from each voting precinct:
(2)(d)(i) the number of votes for each candidate;
(2)(d)(ii) for each race conducted by instant runoff voting under Part 6, Municipal Alternate Voting Methods Pilot Project, the number of valid votes cast for each candidate for each potential ballot-counting phase and the name of the candidate excluded in each ballot-counting phase; and
(2)(d)(iii) the number of votes for and against each ballot proposition;
(2)(e) standardized statistics, on a form provided by the lieutenant governor, disclosing, at a minimum:
(2)(e)(i) the number of active voters in the board's jurisdiction as of the Friday before election day;
(2)(e)(ii) the number of ballots counted by the election officer that were cast by voters who registered to vote on election day under Section 20A-2-207;
(2)(e)(iii) the total number of ballots counted by the election officer;
(2)(e)(iv) the quotient of the number described in Subsection (2)(e)(iii) divided by the sum of the numbers described in Subsections (2)(e)(i) and (ii);
(2)(e)(v) of the number described in Subsection (2)(e)(iii):
(2)(e)(v)(A) the number of provisional ballots cast at a polling place; and
(2)(e)(v)(B) the number of ballots cast using a voting method described in Section 20A-3a-201;
(2)(e)(vi) a reconciliation of the number of ballots the election officer counted and the number of voters given credit for voting in the election;
(2)(e)(vii) if there is a difference between the numbers described in Subsection (2)(e)(vi), an explanation for the difference;
(2)(e)(viii) the number of provisional ballots that could not legally be counted; and
(2)(e)(ix) each of the following:
(2)(e)(ix)(A) the number of ballots, other than provisional ballots, that were rejected because the ballots could not legally be cured;
(2)(e)(ix)(B) the number of ballots, other than provisional ballots, that were rejected, could have been cured by the voter, but were not cured;
(2)(e)(ix)(C) the number of uncounted ballots received after the deadline described in Subsection 20A-3a-204(3); and
(2)(e)(ix)(D) the percentage of ballots that were returned as undeliverable;
(2)(f) subject to Subsection (3), a cast vote record report that contains only the following information from the election results database:
(2)(f)(i) for the jurisdiction administering the election:
(2)(f)(i)(A) the title of each ballot proposition appearing on the ballots;
(2)(f)(i)(B) a description of each race for federal office, statewide office, state legislative office, state school board office, county office, local school board office, or municipal office appearing on the ballots; and
(2)(f)(i)(C) the name of each candidate for an office described in Subsection (2)(f)(i)(B);
(2)(f)(ii) the numeric identifier described in Subsection 20A-5-802.5(2)(b);
(2)(f)(iii) the vote cast by a voter for:
(2)(f)(iii)(A) a candidate for an office described in Subsection (2)(f)(i)(B);
(2)(f)(iii)(B) a valid write-in candidate; and
(2)(f)(iii)(C) each ballot proposition;
(2)(f)(iv) if a voter's vote was not counted, an indication that the vote was not counted because:
(2)(f)(iv)(A) the voter cast a vote for more than one candidate for a single office; or
(2)(f)(iv)(B) the voter made more than one selection for a single ballot proposition;
(2)(f)(v) if a voter was eligible to cast a vote, but did not cast a vote, an indication that the voter did not cast a vote; and
(2)(f)(vi) if a ballot proposition or an office described in Subsection (2)(f)(i)(B) did not appear on the voter's ballot:
(2)(f)(vi)(A) an indication that the voter was ineligible to cast a vote for the ballot proposition or office; or
(2)(f)(vi)(B) a blank field or space in the portion of the report representing the ballot proposition or office;
(2)(g) other information required by law to be provided to the board of canvassers; and
(2)(h) a statement certifying that the information contained in the report is accurate.
(3) The cast vote record report described in Subsection (2)(f) may not include:
(3)(a) any special district office or special district ballot proposition appearing on a ballot in the jurisdiction administering the election;
(3)(b) the vote cast by a voter for a special district office or special district ballot proposition;
(3)(c) the voter precinct number associated with a ballot; or
(3)(d) information that directly identifies the voter who cast the ballot.
(4) For an election in which the election officer does not use automatic tabulating equipment, the election officer shall:
(4)(a) review the votes cast on each ballot that is counted;
(4)(b) manually compile the information described in Subsection (2)(f) in a file format described in Subsection (8)(c);
(4)(c) ensure that the file does not contain the information described in Subsection (3); and
(4)(d) include a copy of the file in the board of canvassers' report.
(5) The election officer and the board of canvassers shall:
(5)(a) review the report to ensure that the report is correct; and
(5)(b) sign the report.
(6) The election officer shall:
(6)(a) record or file the certified report in a book kept for that purpose;
(6)(b) prepare and transmit a certificate of nomination or election under the officer's seal to each nominated or elected candidate;
(6)(c) publish a copy of the certified report in accordance with Subsection (7); and
(6)(d) file a copy of the certified report with the lieutenant governor.
(7) Subject to Subsection (8), an election officer shall, no later than three business days after the day on which the board of canvassers declares the election results, publish a notice of the certified report described in Subsection (2) as a class A notice under Section 63G-30-102.
(8) The class A notice described in Subsection (7) shall:
(8)(a) include the following statement: "The Board of Canvassers for [indicate name of jurisdiction] has prepared a report of the election results for the [indicate type and date of election].";
(8)(b) specify the following sources where an individual may view or obtain a copy of the entire certified report:
(8)(b)(i) the Utah Public Notice Website;
(8)(b)(ii) if the election officer is required to publish the notice on the board's jurisdiction's website under Subsection 63G-30-102(1)(b), the jurisdiction's website;
(8)(b)(iii) the physical address for the board's jurisdiction; and
(8)(b)(iv) a mailing address and telephone number; and
(8)(c) subject to Subsection (9), for the website posting described in Subsections 63G-30-102(1)(a) and (b), include a copy of the certified report in the following file formats:
(8)(c)(i) except for the cast vote record report described in Subsection (2)(f), a PDF or similar file; and
(8)(c)(ii) for the cast vote record report described in Subsection (2)(f), one or more spreadsheets, Comma Separated Values files, or another common type of delimited or fixed-width files.
(9) An election officer may post the information required to be included in the cast vote record report described in Subsection (2)(f) as a text-based file that represents structured information through key value pairs and ordered collections of data in lieu of including that information in a file described in Subsection (8)(c)(ii) if:
(9)(a) the race for elective office was conducted using instant runoff voting under Chapter 4, Part 6, Municipal Alternate Voting Methods Pilot Project; and
(9)(b) the tabulating equipment does not produce a file described in Subsection (8)(c)(ii) that accurately records all the preferences cast by a voter on the voter's ballot.
(10) An election officer shall publish the class A notice described in Subsection (7) for the following time periods:
(10)(a) in relation to posting the notice on the Utah Public Notice Website under Subsection 63G-30-102(1)(a), indefinitely;
(10)(b) in relation to posting the notice on the election officer's jurisdiction's website under Subsection 63G-30-102(1)(b), for at least 180 calendar days after the day of the deadline described in Subsection (7); and
(10)(c) in relation to posting the notice in a physical location under Subsection 63G-30-102(1)(c), for at least seven calendar days after the day of the deadline described in Subsection (7).
(11) An election officer:
(11)(a) shall ensure that an individual may obtain a copy of the certified report in a file format described in:
(11)(a)(i) Subsection (8)(c); and
(11)(a)(ii) if applicable, Subsection (9); and
(11)(b) may make the certified report available in any computer-readable format that the election officer determines is helpful to members of the public.
(12) When there has been a regular general or a statewide special election for statewide officers, for officers that appear on the ballot in more than one county, or for a statewide or two or more county ballot proposition, each board of canvassers shall, immediately upon adjournment of the board, transmit to the lieutenant governor a report detailing the number of votes for each candidate and the number of votes for and against each ballot proposition.
(13) In each county election, municipal election, school election, special district election, and local special election, the election officer shall transmit the reports to the lieutenant governor within 14 calendar days after the date of the election.
(14) In a regular primary election and in a presidential primary election, the board of canvassers shall, immediately upon adjournment of the board, transmit to the lieutenant governor:
(14)(a) the county totals for multi-county races; and
(14)(b) a complete tabulation showing voting totals for all primary races, precinct by precinct.

Legislative History

Amended by Chapter 6, 2025 Special Session 1