Senator Ruth Hardy, co-chair of the joint canvassing committee, called the committee to order Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2024, and the committee adopted the secretary of state's canvass of the 2024 statewide election returns.

The canvass report, prepared by the Office of the Secretary of State, was presented to the committee by Secretary of State Sarah Copeland-Hanzas. "This is the final or next to last step in the process of finalizing the results of the 2024 election," Copeland-Hanzas said, noting that the governor, lieutenant governor and treasurer each must receive "50% plus 1" to win outright under the state constitution.

That requirement is why the committee forwarded the lieutenant governor contest to the full Legislature: the canvass showed no candidate for lieutenant governor achieved a majority of votes. Senate Secretary John Bloomer explained the constitutional role of the Legislature in that circumstance, saying the constitution requires the Legislature to choose among the candidates when no candidate receives a majority.

Committee members asked questions about the underlying tabulation and verification process. Copeland-Hanzas and members of her elections team explained that town and city clerks compiled election-night returns that were reported to the secretary of state's office, that the results on the office's website align with the canvass report, and that the state conducted an audit on Dec. 3 that reviewed returns from a sample of towns. The secretary's office provided a rough count of registered voters at about 512,000 for the recent election.

The committee took a formal motion to adopt the canvass report. Representative Byron moved to adopt the joint canvassing committee report and Senator Ingalls seconded. The motion was adopted by voice vote; no roll-call tally was recorded in the committee transcript.

Members discussed process details for the next steps. The committee and staff outlined plans for a joint assembly on Jan. 9, with a 10 a.m. session to elect the lieutenant governor by ballot and a later joint assembly (around 2 p.m.) for the inauguration and swearing-in of statewide officers. Committee members noted that the body will retain three names on the ballot as required by the constitution and will continue balloting until a majority is achieved; committee staff advised that Rule 10 (adopted separately by the Legislature) would not be used to remove names from the ballot in this constitutional procedure.

The committee certified the canvass so the report may be presented to the joint assembly the following day for the legislature's action on the lieutenant governor contest.