- Utah County Clerk Aaron Davidson told the Deseret News earlier this week that he tracks how some local politicians cast their ballots – whether by mail, drop box or in person.
- Davidson says returning a ballot by mail isn’t as secure or safe as putting it in a drop box.
- An Eagle Mountain state representative said Davidson made remarks to her about how she submitted her ballot in the primary election.
Utah
'Concerning:' Utah County attorney confirms investigation into ballot tracking
Utah County Attorney Jeff Gray confirmed Wednesday that his office is investigating Utah County Clerk Aaron Davidson’s tracking of how elected officials cast their votes, first reported by the Deseret News.
“We’re looking into it. I’ve asked one of my investigators to look into the matter,” Gray said, after being informed by state Sen. Mike McKell, R-Spanish Fork, that Davidson had told the Deseret News he knew that McKell had mailed in his primary ballot without a stamp because he tracked the voting method used by a “list of politicians.”
“It raises concerns to me, obviously,” Gray said. “It may be a matter of, do we need a legislative fix? The election laws are somewhat complicated and this isn’t something that we typically investigate. So we’re still pouring through those. It’s really kind of a legislative policy as to what they want disclosed and not disclosed. And at the end of the day, what do the people want.”
The county attorney said the investigation is “going to take a little time” and will also look into other allegations, including that some Utah County voters who mailed back their ballots without stamps were contacted by the clerk’s office. Gray said “it’s hard to say” whether it’s a criminal investigation at this point.
“It’s concerning. But again, I need to determine what the facts are, and whether or not there is a violation of the law. That’s my focus. It’s not a political (focus) and it doesn’t matter whether I’m concerned or not,” he said. “I just need to do my due diligence and make sure that the law has been complied with.”
‘Unsettling:’ Lawmaker says Utah County clerk knew she voted by mail
Also Wednesday, state Rep. Stephanie Gricius, R-Eagle Mountain, told the Deseret News that Davidson made a point of bringing up recently that she’d voted by mail in the June primary, an “unsettling” and “unusual” comment that has her asking whether new legislation is needed to protect voter privacy.
“Basically, he said something along the lines of, ‘Hey, if I remember right, you mailed your ballot in for the primary. I’m going to strongly encourage you to use a drop box for the general election.’ That was pretty much the end of conversation but it was at that point I figured out, ‘OK, he’s looked up how I sent in my ballot,’” Gricius said.
“I didn’t have time to get into that with him,” she said, because their brief exchange occurred at a state senate debate earlier this month where she was serving as a volunteer. Still, Gricius said, “it was a little unsettling. My first instinct was to question what other information about my ballot that he had.”
She also said she “found it unusual that it would come up. We weren’t talking about that at all when it was brought up,” she said. “Really, it was just that unsettling component of, well, do you know who I voted for? How did you find that information? What went into the process of you looking that up?”
Gricius said she reached out to a former employee in the clerk’s office “to see if that was information that was tracked normally or if that was something new and they explained the clerk’s office does keep track of how ballots are submitted as part of the chain of custody, but that he would have had to look me up individually to see my personal information.”
She also contacted an elections law attorney in the Office of Legislature Research and General Counsel about the issue but they have yet to connect.
“I wanted to know what’s the problem — is there a problem, first of all, and then, what is it. And if there is no legal problem, then why not and what do we need to do to make sure people’s ballots are truly protected,” the Eagle Mountain lawmaker said. “I think that using someone’s private ballot, that again is constitutionally protected, to push a political position is completely inappropriate.”
It’s too soon to say whether that will lead to her proposing changes in the law, she said.
What the Utah County clerk says about the controversy
Davidson did not respond to calls or texts Wednesday asking for comment about the investigation.
During the primary, he and McKell tussled on social media about Utah County not paying for return postage on ballots, a decision made to discourage voters from sending them back via the U.S. Postal Service. Davidson said voting by mail is not as safe or as secure as using a drop box provided by the county.
Before McKell said he’d brought his concerns to the county attorney, Davidson said McKell was the only person whose voting method he publicized even though tracking the method politicians use to vote is “really easy. You just put their name in and it pops up. So I looked at it but I didn’t do anything with it” when it came to others.
“It was just that one time I did it. It was just for the primary because Michael McKell was out there saying all this trash about, ‘Go ahead and cast your ballot using the mail and don’t pay for postage, you don’t have to. He was politicizing that whole thing,” Davidson said.
He said he hasn’t tracked any general election ballots, but that could change “if Mike McKell wants to make a political issue out of it.” Davidson also said the public could access the same information.
The state Elections Office has not commented on the controversy but the state’s director of election, Ryan Cowley, said in a statement the state’s publicly available voter records wouldn’t specify whether or not a ballot was returned through the U.S. Postal Service.
“Counties may use other methods to track where ballots come from, but the state voter registration system only tracks the broad categories which doesn’t differentiate between post office or drop box,” Cowley said.
SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — A man died after he was caught in an avalanche in Big Cottonwood Canyon over the weekend.
A spokesperson for the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office confirmed on Thursday that Kevin Williams, 57, had died.
He, along with one other person, was hospitalized in critical condition after Saturday’s avalanche in the backcountry.
MORE | Big Cottonwood Canyon Avalanche
In an interview with 2News earlier this week, one of Williams’ close friends, Nate Burbidge, described him as a loving family man.
“Kevin’s an amazing guy. He’s always serving, looking for ways that he can connect with others,” Burbidge said.
A GoFundMe was set up to help support Williams’ family.
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CONTENT WARNING: This report discusses suicide and includes descriptions of audio from 911 calls that some viewers may find disturbing.
LAS VEGAS — Exclusively obtained 911 recordings detail the hours leading up to the discovery of an 11-year-old Utah girl and her mother dead inside a Las Vegas hotel room in an apparent murder-suicide.
Addi Smith and her mother, Tawnia McGeehan, lived in West Jordan and had traveled to Nevada for the JAMZ cheerleading competition.
The calls show a growing sense of urgency from family members and coaches, and several hours passing before relatives learned what happened.
MORE | Murder-Suicide
Below is a timeline of the key moments, according to dispatch records. All times are Pacific Time.
10:33 a.m. — Call 1
After Addi and her mother failed to appear at the cheerleading competition, Addi’s father and stepmother called dispatch for a welfare check.
Addi and her mother were staying at the Rio hotel. The father told dispatch that hotel security had already attempted contact.
“Security went up and knocked on the door. There’s no answer or response it doesn’t look like they checked out or anything…”
11:18 a.m. and 11:27 a.m. — Calls 2 and 3
As concern grew, Addi’s coach contacted the police two times within minutes.
“We think the child possibly is in imminent danger…”
11:26 a.m. — Call 4
Addi’s stepmother placed another call to dispatch, expressing escalating concern.
“We are extremely concerned we believe that something might have seriously happened.”
She said that Tawnia’s car was still at the hotel.
Police indicated officers were on the way.
2:26 p.m. — Call 5
Nearly three hours after the initial welfare check request, fire personnel were en route to the scene. It appeared they had been in contact with hotel security.
Fire told police that they were responding to a possible suicide.
“They found a note on the door.”
2:35 p.m. — Call 6
Emergency medical personnel at the scene told police they had located two victims.
“It’s going to be gunshot wound to the head for both patients with notes”
A dispatcher responded:
“Oh my goodness that’s not okay.”
2:36 p.m. — Call 7
Moments later, fire personnel relayed their assessment to law enforcement:
“It’s going to be a murder suicide, a juvenile and a mother.”
2:39 p.m. — Call 8
Unaware of what had been discovered, Addi’s father called dispatch again.
“I’m trying to file a missing persons report for my daughter.”
He repeats the details he knows for the second time.
3:13 p.m. — Call 9
Father and stepmother call again seeking information and continue to press for answers.
“We just need some information. There was a room check done around 3:00 we really don’t know where to start with all of this Can we have them call us back immediately?”
Dispatch responded:
“As soon as there’s a free officer, we’ll have them reach out to you.”
4:05 p.m. — Call 10
More than an hour later, Addi’s father was put in contact with the police on the scene. He pleaded for immediate action.
“I need someone there I need someone there looking in that room”
The officer confirmed that they had officers currently in the room.
Addi’s father asks again what they found, if Addi and her mother are there, and if their things were missing.
The officer, who was not on scene, said he had received limited information.
5:23 p.m. — Call 11
Nearly seven hours after the first welfare check request, Addi’s grandmother contacted police, describing conflicting information circulating within the family.
“Some people are telling us that they were able to get in, and they were not in the hotel room, and other people saying they were not able to get in the hotel room, and we need to know”
She repeated the details of the case. Dispatch said officers will call her back once they have more information.
Around 8:00 p.m. — Press Conference
Later that evening, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police held a news conference confirming that Addi and her mother, Tawnia McGeehan, were found dead inside the hotel room.
The investigation remains ongoing.
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SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — AI glasses could allow you to get answers, snap photos, access audio and take phone calls—and now a proposal moving through the legislature would ban the glasses from Utah school classrooms.
“I think it’s a great idea,” said Kizzy Guyton Murphy, a mother who accompanied her child’s class on a field trip to the state Capitol on Wednesday. “You can’t see inside what the student is looking at, and it’s just grounds for cheating.”
Mom Tristan Davies Seamons also sees trouble with AI glasses.
“I don’t think they should have any more technology in schools than they currently have,” she said.
Her twin daughters, fourth graders Finley and Grayson, don’t have cell phones yet.
“Not until we’re like 14,” said Grayson, adding they do have Chromebooks in school.
2News sent questions to the Utah State Board of Education:
- Does it have reports of students using AI glasses?
- Does it see cheating and privacy as major concerns?
- Does it support a ban from classrooms?
Matt Winters, USBE AI specialist, said the board has not received reports from school districts of students with AI glasses.
“Local Education Agencies (school districts) have local control over these decisions based on current law and code,” said Winters. “The Board has not taken a position on AI glasses.
MORE | Utah State Legislature:
Some districts across the country have reportedly put restrictions on the glasses in schools.
“I think it should be up to the teachers,” said Briauna Later, another mother who is all for preventing cheating, but senses a ban could leave administrators with tired eyes.
“It’s one more thing for the administration to have to keep track of,” said Later.
The proposal, HB 42, passed the House and cleared a Senate committee on Wednesday.
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