(1) The election or nomination of any person to any public office, and the declared result of the vote on any ballot proposition or bond proposition submitted to a vote of the people may be contested according to the procedures established in this part only:

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Terms Used In Utah Code 20A-4-402

  • Ballot: means the storage medium, including a paper, mechanical, or electronic storage medium, that records an individual voter's vote. See Utah Code 20A-1-102
  • Board of canvassers: means the entities established by Sections 20A-4-301 and 20A-4-306 to canvass election returns. See Utah Code 20A-1-102
  • Election: means a regular general election, a municipal general election, a statewide special election, a local special election, a regular primary election, a municipal primary election, and a special district election. See Utah Code 20A-1-102
  • Election judge: means a poll worker that is assigned to:
         (22)(a) preside over other poll workers at a polling place;
         (22)(b) act as the presiding election judge; or
         (22)(c) serve as a canvassing judge, counting judge, or receiving judge. See Utah Code 20A-1-102
  • Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
  • Person: means :
         (24)(a) an individual;
         (24)(b) an association;
         (24)(c) an institution;
         (24)(d) a corporation;
         (24)(e) a company;
         (24)(f) a trust;
         (24)(g) a limited liability company;
         (24)(h) a partnership;
         (24)(i) a political subdivision;
         (24)(j) a government office, department, division, bureau, or other body of government; and
         (24)(k) any other organization or entity. See Utah Code 68-3-12.5
  • Polling place: means a building where voting is conducted. See Utah Code 20A-1-102
  • Property: includes both real and personal property. See Utah Code 68-3-12.5
  • Voter: means an individual who:
         (79)(a) meets the requirements for voting in an election;
         (79)(b) meets the requirements of election registration;
         (79)(c) is registered to vote; and
         (79)(d) is listed in the official register book. See Utah Code 20A-1-102
  • Voting precinct: means the smallest geographical voting unit, established under Chapter 5, Part 3, Duties of the County and Municipal Legislative Bodies. See Utah Code 20A-1-102
     (1)(a) for malconduct, fraud, or corruption on the part of the judges of election at any polling place, or of any board of canvassers, or any judge or member of the board sufficient to change the result;
     (1)(b) when the person declared elected was not eligible for the office at the time of the election;
     (1)(c) when the person declared elected has:

          (1)(c)(i) given or offered to any registered voter, judge, or canvasser of the election any bribe or reward in money, property, or anything of value for the purpose of influencing the election; or
          (1)(c)(ii) committed any other offense against the elective franchise;
     (1)(d) when illegal votes have been received or legal votes have been rejected at the polls sufficient to change the result;
     (1)(e) for any error of any board of canvassers or judges of election in counting the votes or declaring the result of the election, if the error would change the result;
     (1)(f) when the election result would change because a sufficient number of ballots containing uncorrected errors or omissions have been received at the polls;
     (1)(g) when the candidate declared elected is ineligible to serve in the office to which the candidate was elected;
     (1)(h) when an election judge or clerk was a party to malconduct, fraud, or corruption sufficient to change the result of the election; and
     (1)(i) for any other cause that shows that another person was legally elected.
(2) Any irregularity or improper conduct by the election judges does not void an election unless the irregularity or improper conduct would result in the election of a person who did not receive the highest number of legal votes.
(3) When any election held for any office is contested because of any irregularity or improper conduct on the part of a judge of any voting precinct, a court, upon proof of the irregularity or improper conduct may not set aside the election unless the irregularity or improper conduct would change the result for that office.