22nd Utah Territorial Legislature

The legislative session convened on January 10, 1876, at the City Hall in Salt Lake City, and ended on February 18, 1876.^[3][4]

Name	County	Office	Notes
Territorial Council:
Jacob G. Bigler	Millard
Robert T. Burton	Salt Lake
John T. Caine	Salt Lake
William W. Cluff	Summit
Leonard E. Harrington	Utah
John W. Hess	Davis
Jesse N. Smith	Iron
Abraham O. Smoot	Utah
Erastus Snow	Washington
Lorenzo Snow	Box Elder	President
Warren S. Snow	Sanpete
Moses Thatcher	Cache
Wilford Woodruff	Salt Lake
Joseph A. Young	Sevier		Elected August 2, 1875, died August 5, 1875[5]
Territorial House of Representatives:
George Atkin	Tooele		Election contested, seated February 1, 1876[6]
William Bringhurst	Utah
John Brown	Utah
Anson Call	Davis
Albert Carrington	Salt Lake
Lorin Farr	Weber
Joel Grover	Juab
Abram C. Hatch	Wasatch
Francis M. Lyman	Millard
John R. Murdock	Beaver
William B. Pace	Utah
Ward E. Pack	Summit
Charles W. Penrose	Weber
Canute Peterson	Sanpete
Orson Pratt	Salt Lake	Speaker
William B. Preston	Cache
Albert P. Rockwood	Salt Lake
Lorenzo W. Roundy	Washington
John Sharp	Salt Lake
Silas S. Smith	Iron
Willard G. Smith	Morgan
John Taylor	Salt Lake
Thomas Taylor	Salt Lake
Albert K. Thurber	Sanpete
Jonathan C. Wright	Box Elder
Brigham Young Jr.	Cache

The House seat from Tooele was caught up in a general dispute over the 1874 election in that county. The Liberal Party, a rough coalition of disaffected Mormons allying with non-Mormon residents of the territory, achieved there its first notable victory over the People's Party supported by the Mormon establishment; the Liberal ticket prevailed in the official results, and Erastus S. Foote was chosen as the territorial House delegate over George Atkin. However, each side attacked the validity of the other's votes, keeping the outcome in doubt as further wrangling ensued.

The Liberals argued that many votes for the People's ticket were illegal, having been cast by alien nationals.^[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. Most claimed to be naturalized as Americans, but often had their papers issued by the county probate courts, whose jurisdiction to confer citizenship was further called into question.^[8][9]

For its part, the People's Party faction alleged that many voters were ineligible due to not meeting the requirement of being taxpayers and resident in Utah for six months. This particularly singled out the relatively transient mining settlements in Tooele County, largely non-Mormon districts that overwhelmingly provided the base of Liberal support.^[10] It was claimed that up to 80% of their votes should be disqualified.^[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. They also questioned the treatment of women voters under the circumstances. The territorial legislature had granted women the right to vote in 1870, but they were not required to be on the tax lists, and most women voters were Mormon, in contrast to the predominantly male mining communities.^[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.^[6]