Utah prosecutors have charged a former county clerk for allegedly shredding and otherwise mishandling ballots from the 2020 and 2022 elections

Utah prosecutors have charged a former county clerk with three felonies and other counts for allegedly shredding and otherwise mishandling ballots from the 2020 and 2022 elections.

The alleged misdeeds involved ballots cast by about 5,000 voters in Juab County, a desert area of west-central Utah with about 12,000 residents.

Former Juab County Clerk/Auditor Alaina Lofgran is accused of allowing ballots to be shredded soon after the 2022 election in violation of a law requiring their preservation for at least 22 months. The law is for aiding recounts.

  • FuglyDuck@lemmy.worldEnglish
    591·
    1 year ago

    A Republican, Lofgran was Juab County clerk from 2015 to this year. She did not seek reelection in 2022.

    The charges followed a 2022 lawsuit against Juab and several other Utah counties seeking 2020 election records. During the lawsuit, a state judge told Lofgran to preserve records from the 2020 election, according to the charging document.

    The lawsuit was dismissed but appealed, resulting in a second court order to Lofgran to preserve the 2020 election results.

    Soon after the 2022 election, a witness allegedly saw Lofgran put 2022 ballots in a “shred bin” in a large closet near the clerk’s office. The ballots had to be taken out of the shred bin for a recount but a deputy clerk allegedly saw Lofgran put them back in later.

    The election reports were done and “we don’t need them anymore," Lofgran allegedly told the deputy clerk, who is unnamed in the charging document.

    Probably the important parts there. Why there’s not a mandate to store those for multiple years…. I dunno. I have to keep tax filings the IRS doesn’t even need in the first pla for seven…