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Tooele County board certifies primary results after printer error affected about 9,000 ballots
Summary
The Tooele County Board of Canvass approved certification of the June 30 primary after County Clerk Tracy Shaw reported a printing error that misprinted ballots for roughly 9,000 Republican voters; the office said the vendor corrected the error, affected voters were contacted, and a post-election audit found no discrepancies.
Tooele County’s Board of Canvass approved certification of the county’s June 30 primary election after County Clerk Tracy Shaw reported a printing error that delivered incorrect ballots to about 9,000 Republican voters but said the county corrected the problem and verified results through a post‑election audit.
"This has been one of the hardest elections I've ever conducted, but still, despite what we've experienced, one of the best," Shaw told the board. She said the print vendor corrected the misprinted ballots promptly and her office contacted every voter who had returned an incorrect ballot by phone, email, text and letter to ensure each had the opportunity to cast a corrected ballot by mail, reprint, or in person at vote centers.
Shaw said the county processed 4,674 ballots in the primary — roughly a 22% return rate of the about 21,000 active eligible registrants — and initially rejected 47 ballots for reasons such as missing or mismatched signatures and unsigned envelopes. She said 27–29 of those voters cured their ballots after outreach. An additional 47 ballots were not eligible to be counted because they arrived after election day, were returned empty, or could not be cured.
The clerk also described a public post‑election audit held June 29 in which officials hand‑tallied 93 randomly selected paper ballots provided by the Lieutenant Governor’s office and compared those totals to the digital election database. "All went well with the audit, and no discrepancies were found there," Shaw said.
Shaw told the board the county experienced a few smaller printing problems with the vendor beyond the larger misprint and that the county, working with the county attorney’s office, is evaluating the vendor contract and next steps ahead of the November election. She also previewed plans to continue testing a ballot‑verification technology (Track Mail Solutions) and to explore equipment purchases in the county’s 2027 budget.
Council members thanked Shaw and election staff for their work. Councilman Wardlow said the incident underscored the value of election security and encouraged continued public involvement. "The democratic process matters," he said.
Councilman Hoffman moved to approve the canvass and certify the election results; Councilman Thomas seconded. The chair called for a voice vote, the board responded "I," and the chair declared the motion adopted. Board members signed the required canvass documents and the meeting adjourned.
The canvass packet and a public cast vote record (CVR) are posted on the county election website; precinct results with fewer than 15 votes are suppressed for voter privacy, Shaw said.
