Ogden board of canvassers certifies Aug. 12 primary; local turnout 22%

Ogden City’s board of canvassers certified the results of the Aug. 12, 2025 municipal primary at a meeting earlier in the evening, city election staff told the council. Tracy, a city elections staff member, presented the report and asked the governing body to certify the totals.

The certification matter was procedural: council members moved to approve the canvass report and voted by voice to adopt it. “If you just, take a look at the reports … in the at large seat, Alicia Washington and Marsha White are nominated,” Tracy said while summarizing the results and packet materials. Council Member Chbuka moved to certify the results; Council Member Myers seconded the motion and the council approved it by voice vote.

Why it matters: Certification finalizes which candidates advance from the municipal primary and records the official vote totals for each precinct. Tracy told the council the city will publish the detailed precinct results online and that state law governs the canvass process.

Key details: Tracy said overall turnout for the primary was about 22%. There were nine provisional ballots; five of those were counted. Reasons given in the report for ballots not being counted included insufficient ID (two), an incomplete form (one) and one described as “other” related to citizenship verification. Staff also reported ballots returned after the county deadline — 86 ballots were returned past the county cutoff — and that a change in state law this year requires ballots to be in the county by 8 p.m. on election day; postmarks no longer suffice. Tracy described additional categories of rejected ballots: seven signatures that did not match voter records and eight unsigned envelopes.

Discussion and follow-up: Council members expressed disappointment at the low turnout and discussed reminding voters about the new ballot-receipt rule ahead of the general election. Tracy said the county provides an opportunity for voters whose ballots were rejected to cure problems (staff calls, emails and mailed notices). No additional policy action was taken at the meeting.

Meeting context and procedure: The canvass was conducted under the board’s statutory role to prepare a report showing vote totals, rejected ballots and certification statements. The certification was completed by motion and voice vote during the board of canvassers portion of the meeting.