Salt Lake County Clerk's Office Completes Processing of Over 135,000 Petition Signatures for Statewide Referendum

Salt Lake County, UT--Salt Lake County Clerk Lannie Chapman announced today that the Clerk’s Office Election Division has completed processing all petition signatures submitted in Salt Lake County for the proposed statewide referendum to overturn H.B. 267. The team completed this major undertaking by the required statutory deadline of 5 p.m. on Wednesday, May 7.

Between April 11 and May 1, the office verified the signatures of over 115,000 registered voters from Salt Lake County, along with an additional 20,000 signatures of registered voters from other Utah counties. The first petition packets were delivered to the Election Division on April 11, with the final batches arriving on April 16, the deadline for signature gatherers to submit packets to counties. Under state law, counties are given 21 days from the date each packet is received to verify signatures.

During this three-week period, the office processed an average of 500 petition packets per day to complete an initial pass of verification on packets received early. With time remaining before the May 7 deadline, staff conducted a second pass to validate additional signatures and ensure every valid voter signature was accurately reviewed.

“This was an extraordinary effort by an exceptional team,” said Salt Lake County Clerk Lannie Chapman. “Validating this many signatures on a short deadline is no easy task, but our team came together to get it done securely and efficiently. I am so proud of their dedication to public service and the election process. And no, we didn’t even need time travel to pull it off.”

While the State of Utah will determine whether the referendum qualifies for the ballot by certifying signatures statewide, Salt Lake County’s role in the signature verification process is now complete. The Clerk’s Office extends its gratitude to everyone involved in helping meet the deadline with accuracy and professionalism.
For more information, please contact the Salt Lake County Election Division at (385) 468-7400, vote@saltlakecounty.gov or www.slco.vote.