State auditor speaks on signature validation process

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — Utah State Auditor John Dougall has received many requests that pertain to Utah’s signature validation process, and his office has done a “limited review” on the matter.

“The Office reviewed signatures collected by three candidates running for statewide office: the Cox/Henderson campaign, the Curtis campaign, and the Brown campaign,” the release from the Auditor’s Office said.

The Auditor’s Office stated that it analyzed over 1,200 signatures during the review process. Dougall also responded to the concerns that have come to his office.

“Given the concerns expressed by some over the inability to review the names of voters with protected voter registration information who had signed candidates’ packets, we concentrated our work specifically reviewing a sample of those signatures,” Dougall said in the release.

Dougall also detailed the process of review.

“After selecting a random sample of signatures, our team worked diligently to review the validity of those signatures. During that process, I personally reviewed each of those sampled signatures for the Cox/Henderson campaign. I noted 4 exceptions from our primary sample of 373 signatures,” he said.

Dougall stated that the validators were to validate previously uncounted signatures received before the submission deadline.

“We concluded that it is statistically likely each of these candidates met the statutory threshold of required valid signatures,” Dougall said. “In addition, each candidate had ample time before the deadline to gather additional signatures, if requested by the signature validators.”

He said that the office will continue the review into the state’s election process.

“We hope our efforts provide the electorate with greater insight into the recent signature validation process,” he said.

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