With less than two weeks left in the election, State Representative Phil Lyman has asked the United States Supreme Court to put him on the ballot.

Specifically, Lyman, a Republican who has mounted a write-in campaign, is requesting the Court to remove Governor Cox from the ballot and replace Cox’s name with Lyman.

Lyman has contended that he is the rightful Republican nominee because he garnered more than 60% of the delegate vote at the Republican nominating convention in April. Cox won the June 25 primary election by over 37,000 votes, but Lyman says his Utah state law means his previous victory at the convention trump the primary results.   

A state Legislative audit found that there were some irregularities in Governor Cox’s qualifying papers, but that they were not enough to disqualify him from office or overturn his election in the primary.

“It’s actually quite impressive that the state auditor’s office would undertake such a review. I don’t know that something like that’s ever been done,” said Josh Daniels, director of Trust Utah Elections. 

The question centers on Lyman’s reading of Utah Code also impacts the race for Utah Senate. Rep John Curtis won the Republican primary, but Riverton Mayor Trent Staggs secured more than 60% of convention delegate votes.

The Utah Supreme Court heard arguments in this case in August and dismissed Lyman’s claim. This filing is an appeal of that decision.

“We have decided to appeal this decision to the U.S. Supreme Court because we believe the Utah Supreme Court’s dismissal was frivolous and misconstrued the previous SCOTUS ruling on New York State Board of Elections v. Lopez Torres,” Lyman said in a press release. “There is enough history of litigation surrounding SB54 to support an appeal to SCOTUS. We look forward to the next steps in this process.” 

“Phil Lyman has consistently relied on inaccurate information and, if that’s any indicator for what he would be like as a governor, I’m even more grateful for the voters’ decision in June,” said State Sen. Dan McCay (R-Riverton).

Political attorney and Federalist Society contributor Audrey Perry doubts the US Supreme Court will pick up the case, especially with less than two weeks until Election Day.