By McKenzie Romero | Editor
About 300 ballots in a Utah dumpster are evidence that voting by mail is problematic and should be restricted, according to the Trump administration.
The Department of Justice held an unusually high-profile press conference about the case, with acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter announcing “voting fraud is real.” But prosecutors said the Utah postal worker accused of throwing away the ballots, along with other mail, did so to “lighten his workload” and not for political purposes.
In today’s Dispatch we unpack the Utah case that has become part of the national vote-by-mail debate, federal funding coming to five Utah geothermal projects, and fears for an internet program serving schools and libraries nationwide.
“As American citizens, we have certain freedoms and rights. And one of those fundamental rights is the right to vote. But when defendant allegedly tossed the mail-in ballots into a parking lot dumpster, those citizens’ right to vote were also thrown away.” — Melissa Holyoak, U.S. Attorney for the District of Utah, speaking about charges for a former Utah postal worker accused of throwing away primary election ballots.
Election worker Davina Trejo carries a box of ballots to her work station at the Salt Lake County Government Center in Salt Lake City as votes are cast in Utah’s primary election on June 25, 2024. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch)
DC BUREAU
By Jacob Fischler
At the Washington, D.C., press conference announcing the prosecution of Damon Matai Seei, of Payson, Utah, acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter spotlighted the administration’s efforts to combat voter fraud after the U.S. Supreme Court this month blocked a new U.S. Postal Service rule limiting mail voting from going into effect for this year’s elections.
The regulation was meant to “address the chronically abused mail-in ballot system,” McCotter said. He criticized the trial judge who initially blocked the rule, which would have required special tracking and design features, among other things such as creating a national database of eligible voters.
Fervo’s Cape Station geothermal development in Beaver County. (Courtesy of Fervo)
By Alixel Cabrera
Federal agencies have geothermal energy in sight, and are injecting funds for projects in Utah. The U.S. Department of Energy announced it is granting $99 million for 21 geothermal energy development projects throughout the country. Five of them are in Utah.
Projects from Zanskar Geothermal and Minerals, AlterG Resources, and the University of Utah, all based in Salt Lake City, are working on conducting tests of enhanced geothermal systems “to validate technologies under real-world conditions.” Plus, Zanskar and the U. are also conducting exploration drilling to identify new geothermal and conventional hydrothermal geothermal generation.
The library at Woodrow Wilson Elementary School in South Salt Lake is pictured on Tuesday, March 12, 2024. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch)
STATELINE
By Robbie Sequeira
A multibillion-dollar federal program that helps schools and libraries afford broadband internet is under review by the Trump administration, leaving education officials and advocates worried about potentially significant cuts.
The fifth-largest stream of federal funding for schools nationwide, the E-Rate program provides about $3 billion annually for internet access and telecommunications to more than 100,000 schools and 11,000 libraries across the country. In Utah, 1,076 institutions, almost exclusively schools, rely on the program.
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