SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — The Utah Attorney General’s office announced charges against 11 people on Monday, accusing them of forgery during the signature-gathering process for Utah candidates.
The Justice Division of the AG’s office filed forgery and forgery-related charges in 11 cases, accusing professional signature gatherers — some of whom were independent contractors working on behalf of the company Gathering Inc. — of forging signatures during the gathering process.
The company’s contractors gathered signatures for several candidates — most notably for Gov. Spencer Cox, Congressman Blake Moore, former senate candidate Brad Wilson, along with state Sen. Don Ipson and other local candidates, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the situation.
The investigation centered on signatures gathered in southern Utah to get candidates on the ballot. However, Washington County officials clarified that the signatures that were allegedly forged there were not counted in campaign totals toward any candidates.
Tanner Leatham, the owner of the signature-gathering company Gathering Inc. (also known as Gather), told ABC4.com that hundreds of contractors work with the company during an election cycle.
When asked whether Gov. Cox received enough valid signatures to qualify for the ballot, Leatham said, “One hundred percent, he got enough. There are thousands of signatures that we collected that never even needed to be counted because he had so many.”
Several defendants are accused of having family members or spouses sign on behalf of other voters, and others copied voters’ signatures from one form to another, according to charging documents.
Gov. Cox’s campaign manager, Matt Lusty, provided a statement to ABC4.com on behalf of the Cox campaign.
“The total number of signatures submitted by the Cox campaign far exceeded the state requirement of 28,000. In the verification process, some signatures were disqualified by the Davis County Clerk for various reasons including signature verification,” the statement reads.
Lusty continued: “The Attorney General’s office should be applauded for its actions today, and those employed by this company or any other that engaged in this behavior should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
The Lieutenant Governor’s office also issued a statement about the situation, saying it was notified of “signature irregularities” in several candidate packets last year.
“I commend the county clerks for flagging suspicious signature packets and the Attorney General’s office for following through with the investigation that led to criminal charges against the alleged perpetrators,” the statement from the Lt. Gov. reads. “We have no tolerance for cheating of any kind in our elections.”
The AG’s office said it is not providing further comment on the incident at this time.
“We give them all the tools to do it properly, and to make a difference, and if they choose to do something dishonest, we hate it, and we do everything we can to prevent that,” Leatham told ABC4.com.
A breakdown of the 11 defendants, their charges, and the accusations against them is included below. The defendants are listed in alphabetical order.
Charging documents allege that between Jan. 1, 2024, and March 10, 2024, Angilau collected 2,243 voter names and signatures, but only 84 signatures were deemed valid.
“A couple signatures were illegible, and 11 signatures were from unregistered residents,” the documents shared by the AG’s office claim. “The remaining signatures, 2,146, did not match the signature on file with election officials.”
Burt is accused of turning in seven packets with several voter signatures where “their names had been signed by a spouse of the opposite sex or a parent,” charging documents read.
Charging documents claim that as much as 40% of signatures collected by Drake were from a voter’s spouse signing on their behalf. Several voters reported that they had not signed the petition themselves, but that someone else had signed their name.
Edwards is accused of turning in 15 packets, of which 10 were checked by the Lieutenant Governor’s office for signature verification. Documents claim only 45 of 249 signatures were deemed valid in those 10 packets. Roughly 27% of the signatures collected did not match the signatures on file with election officials.
Huntsman circulated nomination petitions for three candidates, and reportedly “admitted to allowing other people to sign the petition for other voters,” documents said. He is also accused of copying voters’ signatures from one nomination petition to another.
“He stated that he forged signatures so he could make more money,” charging documents said. Huntsman allegedly said he forged 30 signatures on each of the petitions he circulated, and earned more than $500 for the forged signatures.
According to charging documents, Jeong reportedly admitted in an interview that he would have a spouse sign a petition for their spouse to “kill two birds with one stone.” Documents say only 71 of the 176 signatures Jeong collected were valid, while 36 did not match the signatures on file with election officials.
Of the 115 signatures gathered by Jordan, only 32 were deemed valid. Roughly half of the signatures didn’t match those on file with election officials, documents said.
Karpeh turned in 16 nomination petition packets, of which 11 were checked to determine signature validity. There were 383 signatures gathered across the 11 packets, and only 182 were deemed valid, according to charging documents.
Robinson submitted 10 packets, of which eight were checked. There were 43 valid signatures of the 212 total signatures in the eight packets that were checked, according to documents. Roughly 62% of the signatures didn’t match those on file with election officials.
Wilde reportedly admitted that some voters signed for family members who were not present at the time of signing. Four voters confirmed with officials that they did not personally sign their names, but that their spouse had signed for them, charging documents said.
Williams turned in four nomination packets with 99 signatures total. Of the 99 signatures submitted, charging documents said only four were deemed valid, and 81 signatures did not match those on file.
The full statement from the Cox campaign is included below:
During the 2024 election, the Cox for Governor campaign engaged a signature gathering company to help support its volunteer signature efforts. The company chosen by the campaign was the same one previously hired by several members of Utah’s congressional delegation, numerous legislative candidates, and the Governor’s Republican opponent in the 2020 gubernatorial election.
The total number of signatures submitted by the Cox campaign far exceeded the state requirement of 28,000. In the verification process, some signatures were disqualified by the Davis County Clerk for various reasons including signature verification.The Attorney General’s office should be applauded for its actions today, and those employed by this company or any other that engaged in this behavior should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. The Governor is also appreciative of recent legislative efforts to further strengthen trust in our elections, including the work done in this year’s session to increase transparency and enhance protections to the candidate signature-gathering process.”
Gov. statement on forgery charges flied against signature gatherers
The full statement from the Lt. Governor’s office is as follows:
Last year our office was notified of signature irregularities in multiple candidate petition packets. After an investigation, we referred the matter to the Attorney General’s Justice Division. I commend the county clerks for flagging suspicious signature packets and the Attorney General’s office for following through with the investigation that led to criminal charges against the alleged perpetrators. We have no tolerance for cheating of any kind in our elections.”
Lt. Gov. statement on forgery charges flied against signature gatherers
Peter Prybylski contributed to this report.
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