22nd Utah Territorial Legislature

[7] With a sizable portion of the Mormon population having immigrated from England, including some of its leaders (Atkin among them), this allegation might disqualify many voters and also render candidates ineligible to serve.

[11] In response, the Liberals wished to assert that many miners were in fact residents, while the failure to enroll them as taxpayers was due to the negligence of territorial officials.

[12] The federal appointees in the territory, Governor George L. Woods and Chief Justice James B. McKean of the Supreme Court, sided with the Liberals, so Foote was issued the certificate of election and presented himself at the opening of the legislative session.

[3] But the House of Representatives, claiming the power to ascertain the qualifications of its own members, opted to consider Atkin's suit to contest the result, and referred the matter to its Committee on Elections.

After conducting an investigation, the committee in its report rejected a significant number of ballots for each side that were deemed illegal, but considerably more for Foote, with the result that the election was awarded to Atkin.