Hundreds in public comments urge Utah County to pursue a forensic audit; speakers also voice support for Utah Lake restoration

A large group of public commenters at the Jan. 26 Utah County Board of Commissioners meeting called on county leaders to support a full forensic audit of the 2020 election and to make election records more accessible.

Several speakers directly appealed to the commission to act or to use the county’s authority to seek additional audits or to push for release of project backup databases and GRAMA records. Sharon Anderson (Orem) and Jennifer Orton (Draper) said they had gathered signatures and affidavits and requested county-level action to increase transparency. ‘‘I urge you as commissioners to do whatever you can to support that effort,’’ Anderson said. Orton said petition signers and volunteers had collected notarized affidavits asking state and county officials for a forensic audit.

Other speakers made similar calls: Sofia Anderson described mixed responses to GRAMA requests across counties and urged openness; Dr. Laura Sanger framed the request as necessary to restore public confidence and called for ‘‘brave men and women’’ to authorize a full forensic audit. Multiple other commenters (Caleb Pierce, Chad Shattuck and others) asked the commission to grant access to election databases and vote to commission an independent audit.

At the same meeting, several residents also voiced support for the Utah Lake Restoration Project after the Lake Restoration Solutions presentation. Jackie Balmer and others described personal connections to the lake and urged the commission to allow the federal NEPA process to proceed and to listen to the scientific review the Army Corps will oversee.

The commission did not take action on election-audit requests during the meeting; the public-comment record is now part of the meeting minutes and was closed without formal board response per standard public-comment rules.