CEDAR CITY, Utah — Despite many investigations and conversations, Iron County is still working to figure out what went wrong last month when mail-in ballots arrived too late — or not at all.
“My wife and I, and my daughter, we still haven’t received our ballots,” said Iron County Commissioner Paul Cozzens. “Most people I’ve talked to have not. So where are they?”
In November, the Iron County Clerk told FOX 13 News that a majority of the ballots were packaged incorrectly and mixed up with other mail.
“At one point, I was told they went from Vegas to Dallas to Salt Lake. I just heard now that they actually went to San Diego,” Jon Whittaker said back in November.
The county scrambled to make sure everyone had the resources to vote. Even with the circumstances, Cozzens said the county had around a 60% turnout.
“The election for Iron County last month was an absolute nightmare,” he said.
The mess inspired Cozzens to propose a resolution to “restore the discretion of election officers to administer elections primarily by mail or in-person as local needs demand.” He believes an opt-in system for mail-in ballots could prevent a repeat of what happened this election.
“I think that a county should have the flexibility to administer an election as they see fit so it’s best for their needs,” he said.
The Iron County Board of Commissioners will vote on the proposal Monday, but at the end of the day, only the state legislature can make the change on how counties can handle elections. Cozzens hopes the resolution will spark awareness for the upcoming state legislative session.
“It’s just simply not acceptable that we don’t know where thousands of ballots are,” said Cozzens.
