Public commenter calls Financial Times’ election-night map on Utah 'fake news'

During public comment, a resident identified in the transcript as "Commenter," a resident, criticized a Financial Times election-night graphic that the speaker said wrongly showed Utah "moving to the left" in the presidential results and called the report "fake news." "Is fake news. % fake news. That's what I'd like to get down the bottom," the commenter said.

The commenter described a timeline in which the Financial Times published an election-night map showing counties shifting left or right, and said the outlet identified Utah as "one of two states" that moved left. "And on election night, they said Utah was 1 of 2 states. I think the other 1 was Oregon, maybe Washington. So Utah was 1 of 2 states that moved to the left. They said this on election night before our ballots were or before our polls were even closed. Really?" the commenter said.

The speaker said later counts changed that picture. "Fast forward 2 days, and not only was that not true, we moved to the right. So we became more conservative. We had a higher turnout for for Donald Trump. Republicans performed better last year than they did in 2020. So 100% fake news," the commenter said, adding that the timing of the map's publication, while votes were still being counted, was frustrating.

The commenter also referenced an online post by "Senator John Johnson," saying the senator had a post about the matter on the social platform X. "In fact, John Johnson, senator John Johnson has a tweet out today, in fact, on this very thing. So go and look at his post on x," the commenter said.

The remarks were made during the meeting's public-comment period and did not prompt any formal action or vote by the body. The transcript contains the speaker's claims and references but does not include independent verification of the Financial Times graphic or of the counts the speaker described.