Without a common format, Utah's election results are hard to check
Utah law already requires every county to report its votes precinct by precinct. It does not require that report in a form a computer can read, so the numbers sit in 29 separate county reports with no common format. Utah Civic Compact drafted the Election Transparency Amendments to put them in one statewide file.
Citations refer to the Utah Code as amended through the 2026 General Session and link to the Legislature's website. The discussion draft of the bill will be published here after election officials have reviewed it.
I. Utah's precinct results are public but hard to use
During Utah Civic Compact's ongoing independent analysis of Utah's 2026 elections, we needed precinct-level results for the whole state, and assembling them meant clearing every hurdle described below. We quickly realized that the public, independent organizations, members of the Legislature, and county election officials all face the same problem whenever they need to answer a question about a result.
Every county in Utah counts its ballots by voting precinct, and reports those counts in its canvass report. Precinct results are how anyone outside an election office checks that the totals add up, and sees where a close race was decided.
A resident or a nonpartisan group that wants Utah's results for one election runs into three hurdles:
- Finding them. No statewide precinct file exists. Each county posts its own canvass report, so a statewide look starts with 29 separate documents.
- Reading them. The law lets each county post that report as "a PDF or similar file" (§ 20A-4-304(8)(c)(i)) and sets no common format for the results inside it. No single program can easily read every county's report, so the numbers have to be retyped or extracted county by county, and every manual step is a chance for human error.
- Placing them on a map. Counties file their precinct boundaries with the Utah Geospatial Resource Center (§ 20A-5-303(3)), but nothing requires a canvass report to label precincts the way those maps do. Without that link, results cannot be mapped or compared across elections when lines move.
When the published numbers are hard to use, people ask clerks for the underlying records instead, such as ballot images and cast vote records. Clerks have to deny those requests, because in 2024 the Utah Court of Appeals held that those records are election returns Utah's records law does not make public (KSL, September 23, 2024). A public file in a single format would answer many of those questions before they even reach a clerk's office.
The timing comes from the Legislature's own 2026 decision. HB 26, Voting Equipment Amendments, passed the House 74 to 1 and the Senate 29 to 0. It directs the lieutenant governor to run a competitive procurement for a new voting equipment system and bars a county from buying equipment outside that system once it is selected (HB 26, enrolled, 2026 General Session). Because the state is choosing one system, the format of the results it produces can be set in statute before the purchase.
II. Our bill adds a format to a duty counties already have
Utah's election code already makes every county report its certified results by voting precinct, but it leaves the format open. A county may post its certified report as a PDF, with no standard structure for the results, and the one part of the report that must be a spreadsheet, the cast vote record, is barred by law from showing which precinct a ballot came from.
The Election Transparency Amendments close that gap with a format requirement for each county clerk to add one CSV file to the canvass report it already prepares. The lieutenant governor combines the county files into one statewide file and publishes it, with the precinct map, within 30 days of the state canvass. No county changes how it counts ballots or buys new equipment to comply. The bill applies to elections held on or after January 1, 2028. The file shows whether the ballots that were counted were added up and reported consistently, and it leaves the question of which ballots should have been counted to recounts and election contests.
III. Utah already requires these results
The canvass report every election officer submits must include precinct results. Utah Code § 20A-4-304(2)(d) requires, "from each voting precinct," the number of votes for each candidate and for and against each ballot proposition. The same section then lets the officer post that report in whatever document form it chooses:
"except for the cast vote record report described in Subsection (2)(f), a PDF or similar file"
Utah Code § 20A-4-304(8)(c)(i)
The cast vote record is the one part of the report that must be a spreadsheet, and the law keeps precincts out of it to protect ballot secrecy. Under § 20A-4-304(3)(c), that report "may not include ... the voter precinct number associated with a ballot," so a reader cannot rebuild precinct totals from it.
| Results the law covers | Where | Format the law requires |
|---|---|---|
| Precinct results in the county canvass report | § 20A-4-304(2)(d) | "A PDF or similar file" (§ 20A-4-304(8)(c)(i)) |
| Cast vote record, one row per ballot | § 20A-4-304(2)(f) | A spreadsheet or delimited file, with no precinct (§ 20A-4-304(3)(c), (8)(c)(ii)) |
| Primary results sent to the lieutenant governor | § 20A-4-304(14)(b) | "Precinct by precinct," no format stated |
| Any other version of the report | § 20A-4-304(11)(b) | Optional: "any computer-readable format" the officer finds helpful |
IV. Each county adds one file to its canvass report
Utah Civic Compact is drafting Election Transparency Amendments to add one file to the canvass report and one statewide file to the lieutenant governor's website. The bill amends two sections of the Utah Code.
| Requirement | Who |
|---|---|
| Prepare a precinct results file as part of the canvass report and post it with the certified report | County clerk |
| List each precinct's votes for every candidate and ballot proposition, with ballots cast, undervotes and overvotes | County clerk |
| Use one comma-separated values file with a header row, one row per candidate or choice in each precinct | County clerk |
| Identify each precinct by the identifier in the statewide voter registration database, matched to the boundary filed with the Utah Geospatial Resource Center | County clerk |
| Send the file to the lieutenant governor after a regular general, statewide special, regular primary or presidential primary election | County clerk |
| Post a corrected file if a recount or election contest changes a result | County clerk |
| Assign one contest identifier and one candidate identifier used by every county | Lieutenant governor |
| Publish the combined statewide file and the precinct boundaries within 30 days of the state canvass, free to download | Lieutenant governor |
The format sits in statute, so it does not change with an administration or a vendor. The lieutenant governor may add technical detail by rule, such as field names or an optional export in the federal Election Results Common Data Format, but the bill bars a rule from removing any field the statute requires.
The file never identifies a voter. A rule that adds a breakdown by voting method may not apply it to a precinct where fewer than 30 ballots were cast by any method, a threshold we have asked clerks to weigh in on, so a small precinct's mail and in-person totals cannot be used to single anyone out.
V. The counties already do most of this
The file holds the precinct totals each county already puts in its canvass report, plus ballots cast, undervotes and overvotes, which tabulation systems compute for every contest. The duty falls on county clerks only, and municipalities and special districts that run their own elections are untouched, and no county needs new equipment. The lieutenant governor's added work is assigning identifiers and combining the 29 county files into one after each covered election.
Additionally, Florida and Texas already require local election officials to report precinct results to the state electronically, Florida within 10 business days after the state certifies the election (Fla. Stat. § 98.0981) and Texas within 30 days of election day (Tex. Elec. Code § 67.017). Both states leave the format to an executive office, while our bill writes the required fields into statute and lets the lieutenant governor add to them by rule, which keeps the core of the file under the Legislature's control.
VI. Election officials will help set the open figures
We sent our discussion draft to every county clerk with three questions: what producing the file would cost from the system each county uses today, whether that system labels precincts with the identifiers in the statewide voter registration database, and whether the clerk would support the bill, stay neutral or want changes first.
The draft leaves several figures in brackets because the people who would carry them out should set them:
- How many days a clerk has to post a corrected file after a recount or election contest is resolved (the draft says seven).
- The smallest number of ballots a precinct must have before a rule may break its results out by voting method (the draft says 30).
- How many days the lieutenant governor has to republish the statewide file after a correction (the draft says 14), and how long each published file stays online.
- Whether a candidate keeps the same identifier from the primary to the general election in the same year.
We will take what the clerks tell us to the lieutenant governor's office next, and then to legislators.
VII. Utah Civic Compact wrote this bill
Utah Civic Compact wrote the 2027 Election Transparency Amendments, from the first draft to the discussion draft sent to county clerks. This record will be updated as the bill moves.
| Date | Step |
|---|---|
| UCC publishes this policy paper | |
| November 2026 | UCC sends the discussion draft and a one-page brief to all 29 county clerks |
| UCC publishes "Any Utahn should be able to check our election results" and completes the brief for election officials |
The next steps are review by the lieutenant governor's office and a legislative sponsor for the 2027 General Session.
Appendix A: The discussion draft
The full text of the Election Transparency Amendments will be available to download from this page after input from clerks and the lieutenant governor are considered.
Appendix B: Sources
Utah Code and bills
- Utah Code § 20A-4-304, Declaration of results, canvassers' report
- Utah Code § 20A-4-306, Statewide canvass
- Utah Code § 20A-5-303, Voting precincts, boundaries filed with the Utah Geospatial Resource Center
- Utah Code § 20A-2-502, Statewide voter registration system
- HB 26, Voting Equipment Amendments, enrolled, 2026 General Session
Other states
- Fla. Stat. § 98.0981, precinct-level election results
- Tex. Elec. Code § 67.017, precinct-by-precinct results
Reporting
We encourage readers to open the statutes and the draft once available and check this paper against them.