Audit finds no significant fraud in Utah primary

What auditors found

Auditors reviewing Utah’s recent primary election said they did not observe significant fraud, The Salt Lake Tribune reported. The review did identify possible deceased Utahns whose names remained on voter rolls and one person who voted twice in the primary.

The two findings concern different parts of election administration. Voter rolls are the state’s registration records, while the double-voting finding involves ballots cast in an election. The audit’s broader conclusion remained that reviewers found no signs of fraud on a significant scale.

Federal dispute over voter data

The audit comes as the U.S. Department of Justice investigates Utah’s top election official for refusing to turn over voter data. The department has also threatened the official with a criminal charge.

The dispute has divided prominent Utah Republicans. Sen. Mike Lee said the elections chief was wrong to defy the Justice Department, while Gov. Spencer Cox and other Republicans defended the official.

The review also arrives before a major change to Utah voting procedures. Utah will stop automatically mailing ballots to voters in 2029. In 2026, 95% of the state’s voters used a mail ballot, making the administration of voter records and mailed ballots central to how Utah conducts elections.

The audit findings, the Justice Department investigation and the coming mail-ballot change are separate developments. The audit addressed the recent primary, while the federal dispute concerns access to voter information and the 2029 change concerns how voters will receive ballots.