The decision to delay elections in Utah was not an easy one, according to Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson, who told the Daily Herald that her office evaluated every possible option for holding this year’s municipal elections and the special election for U.S. Rep. Chris Stewart, of Utah’s 2nd Congressional District, in an efficient and cost-effective manner.

On the last day of the 2023 election filing deadline, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox issued a proclamation moving the primary and general elections back two-to-three weeks.

Stewart announced on June 1 he would be stepping down from office due to health concerns for his wife. His time in office will officially end in September. The filing period is open for the seat and includes 16 candidates, as of Tuesday evening.

“We wanted to do this in the soonest manner, as soon as possible, because we don’t want the people of the 2nd Congressional District to go unrepresented for a long period of time, and we also wanted to do it in the simplest way,” Henderson said.

The simplest way, she added, would have meant a special election primary on the November municipal ballot and general election in March 2024 alongside the presidential primary. Because Stewart is leaving in September, though, “the simplest option was definitely not the soonest option.”

After a series of behind-the-scenes conversations, the proclamation was issued and the change announced. The conversations, Henderson said, were between members of the Governor’s Office and her office, though they did notify representatives with the League of Cities and Towns and the Association of Counties, “but we couldn’t really have big, broad conversations before we got all the legislative buy-in.”

Under the changed schedule, the municipal primary election will be held Sept. 5, rather than Aug. 15, and the general election is moved from Nov. 7 to Nov. 21. The municipal primary was also scheduled to align with the candidate filing deadline for cities using ranked-choice voting for the November election.

Their filing deadline, though, will remain Aug. 8-15. Four Utah County cities — Genola, Payson, Vineyard and Woodland Hills — will be using ranked-choice in November.

“We did talk about it briefly and we just decided that there was no real reason to change it. And we weren’t going to change things just for the sake of changing it,” Henderson said.

The change was still a surprise to city recorders, who manage candidate filings on the municipal level. Pamela Spencer (Vineyard), Kim Holindrake (Payson) and Jody Stones (Woodland Hills) told the Daily Herald they were notified of the changes on June 7, the same day the proclamation was issued.

“I’m grateful to our leaders at Utah County, ULCT and the Lt. Governor’s Office for all their guidance as we move forward during this unexpected circumstance,” Spencer said in an email.

More information is expected in the coming days as House Bill 2001, Election Amendments, was introduced during the special legislative session Monday.

In addition to changing the election schedule, the bill includes a one-time $2,500,000 appropriation from the state’s General Fund to manage “incremental costs” on top of expected expenses, Henderson added.

When discussing if the changes would be doable on a county level, as most municipal elections are still managed by the county, Henderson touted the experience of her election’s office. The state’s director of elections, Ryan Cowley, previously worked as Weber County elections director, and the deputy director of elections, Shelly Jackson, was deputy clerk manager in Davis County and assistant elections director in Weber County.

Even though the change is coming on a state level, Henderson reiterated that there are not any changes as to how the election will be administered.

“Cities still oversee their election process. The city council members and the mayors, they’re still the board of canvassers for their city’s races, and they will still be responsible for conducting those canvassers and for certifying those results,” Henderson said. “We are simply making sure that these elections, because of these special circumstances, are being conducted in a uniform manner.”

The special election for Stewart’s seat is only the second in Utah after the 2017 resignation of then-U.S. Rep. Jason Chaffetz, who was replaced by then-Provo Mayor John Curtis.

Utah County is split between the 3rd Congressional District, with Rep. Curtis, and the 4th District, with Rep. Burgess Owens, through several residents of both are seeking Stewart’s seat. A congressional representative is not required to live in the district they represent, just the state.

“These are special circumstances and everybody’s giving a little bit to be able to get this done. But I’m confident that they’ll be run well and that people will step up to the plate to do what they need to do in order to get this done,” Henderson said.

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