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Why are auditors taking a second look at the Utah primaries?

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Why are auditors taking a second look at the Utah primaries?


Utah’s statewide Republican primary elections have already been scrutinized by the justice system this year. Now, they will receive an even closer look by both the executive and legislative branches of state government, after several winning candidates requested an audit in an effort to increase trust in elections.

State Auditor John Dougall and state Legislative Auditor General Kade Minchey announced two separate audits into Utah’s primary election process on Tuesday, in addition to the statutorily required audit of Utah elections every federal election year.

Some congressional and statewide GOP primaries put Utah’s election code to the test this year, with a recount required in the 2nd Congressional District and unsubstantiated claims of election fraud in the gubernatorial race. Complaints from candidates and voters highlighted potential areas for improvement in Utah’s election system surrounding transparency with signature and voting records.

Dougall, an elected member of Utah’s executive branch, will conduct a review of how state election officials disclose voter registration information and how candidate signature-gathering packets are validated, he said in a press release on Tuesday. No additional comments will be provided until the “limited review of certain aspects of the state’s election process” is completed.

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Minchey, an independent auditor appointed by the bicameral Legislative Audit Subcommittee, will add a special focus on statewide signature-gathering verification processes in his biennial elections report after the subcommittee directed him to do so in a hearing on Tuesday.

GOP statewide candidates request audit

The updated audit comes in response to a request made on Monday by the Republican candidates in Utah’s three biggest statewide races. Utah Gov. Spencer Cox; his running mate, Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson; Derek Brown, the GOP nominee for attorney general; and Rep. John Curtis, the GOP nominee for U.S. Senate; released a statement asking for a legislative audit of the signature-gathering process that put them on the primary ballot in a bid to increase voter confidence.

“We believe this audit will confirm that proper signature verification laws and procedures were followed,” the four said in a statement. “We trust our county clerks and are committed to addressing any issues found to enhance the process.”

The Utah Lieutenant Governors Office contracts out all signature-gathering primary qualifications for statewide and multicounty races to the Davis County Clerk’s Office. Davis County Clerk Brian McKenzie issued a statement on Tuesday welcoming an audit of his office’s signature verification procedures. “I reaffirm that each signature was reviewed by trained election workers and either validated or rejected in accordance with the requirements set forth by Utah Law,” McKenzie said.

In Utah, candidates for statewide races may qualify for a primary election by receiving more than 40% in their party’s nominating convention or by gathering 28,000 signatures from voters that are registered members of their party. Multiple candidates in the same race cannot share signatures from the same voters, giving the first to submit their signature packets an edge.

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McKenzie’s office verifies each signature by comparing it to that in the state voter registration database and making sure it matches up with the name and address on record, he said. Signatures are only counted if they come from voters who are registered to vote for the party of the primary candidate.

McKenzie does not know exactly what an audit will entail but looks forward to helping Utah voters understand the process better.

Phil Lyman questions Utah elections

These audits come amid allegations made by state Rep. Phil Lyman about Utah’s primary process. Lyman, who is currently running a write-in campaign promoted by Democratic gubernatorial candidate Brian King, beat Cox at convention among a few thousand state delegates, 67.5%-32.5%, before losing in the statewide primary by more than 37,500 votes.

Lyman claims the signature-gathering path to the primary is invalid because it is different than the process laid out in state GOP bylaws (GOP officials have said that state law overrules party policy), and that Cox did not gather enough signatures for the primary, a claim based on what Lyman sees as a lack of transparency because some voters have made their information private.

In a statement on Tuesday, Lyman questioned the independence of the proposed state legislative audit.

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“Announcing an audit of ‘the process’ is a smokescreen. We do not believe that Spencer Cox has the requisite number of original signatures,” Lyman said in a post on X. “We are dealing with a deeply corrupt system. This is the foxes proposing an audit of the hen house.”

Minchey pushed back against claims that his office of legislative auditors is not independent. The legislative audit department is particularly well-suited to audit elections, he said, because it has no connection to the executive branch that actually preforms elections at the county level, and certifies them at the state level.

“That gives us actually maximum independence, because we’re not part of the executive branch, where these functions reside,” Minchey said.



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911 recordings detail hours leading up to discovery of Utah girl, mother dead in Las Vegas

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911 recordings detail hours leading up to discovery of Utah girl, mother dead in Las Vegas


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.

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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.

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“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.

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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”

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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.

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“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:

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“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.

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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.

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The investigation remains ongoing.

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Ban on AI glasses in Utah classrooms inches closer to passing

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Ban on AI glasses in Utah classrooms inches closer to passing


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.

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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.

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“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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Kalshi sues Utah over efforts to stop prop betting in the state

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Kalshi sues Utah over efforts to stop prop betting in the state


SALT LAKE CITY — A prediction market is suing Utah over plans to regulate proposition betting that it says would run afoul of federal regulations.

Kalshi is a New York-based prediction market that allows users to place “event contracts” on future outcomes and earn a payout if they are correct. Those transactions are regulated through the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court, the company said Utah has plans to prevent the company from offering contracts in the state and asked the courts to block any enforcement that “interferes with the operation and function of plaintiffs’ futures market.”

“Plaintiff KalshiEX LLC believes the governor of Utah and the Attorney General’s Office of Utah will imminently bring an enforcement action against Kalshi with the intent to prevent Kalshi from offering event contracts for trading on its federally regulated exchange,” the complaint states. “Defendants have repeatedly represented that they believe Kalshi is operating unlawfully under Utah anti-gambling laws.”

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The lawsuit points to a couple of posts from Gov. Spencer Cox and an op-ed written by Attorney General Derek Brown in the Deseret News on Sunday. After Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Mike Selig announced that his agency would “defend its exclusive jurisdiction” over prediction markets last week, Cox took to X calling the markets “gambling — pure and simple.”

“They are destroying the lives of families and countless Americans, especially young men,” he wrote. “They have no place in Utah. Let me be clear, I will use every resource within my disposal as governor of the sovereign state of Utah, and under the Constitution of the United States to beat you in court.”

He followed that up last Thursday, saying Utah is “ready to defend our laws in court and protect Utahns from companies that drive addiction, isolation and serious financial harm.”

In his op-ed, Brown argued that prediction markets are “the newest iteration of gambling” and said he didn’t see a difference between betting and trading futures.

“Although traditional sports betting apps are illegal under Utah law, these platforms argue that they merely allow users to hedge their risk,” he wrote. “But what is the real risk to hedge when you are simply predicting whether LeBron James will score more or less than another player? It’s simply a bet, dressed up in different clothing.”

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The lawsuit also comes as the state Legislature is advancing a bill that would clarify that proposition betting — or betting placed on specific players or events during games — falls under the state’s definition of gambling, which is prohibited by the Utah Constitution. HB243 has passed the House and a Senate committee and is awaiting consideration on the Senate floor.

But Kalshi says its contracts are lawful thanks to a carveout in Utah’s anti-gambling laws that allows for “lawful business.” Its lawsuit claims Kalshi’s attorneys made “multiple attempts” to contact Brown about potential action against the company but were “met with silence, even though the Utah AG had previously been willing to communicate with counsel.”

Asked about the lawsuit on Tuesday, Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, said he is “standing with the governor on this one.”

The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.



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