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Election Guide

General Conference

Utah voters turn on incumbents as approval ratings drop

Behind the scenes of general conference: ‘Audio and Light’

Church to dedicate 7 temples over 4 Sundays

OCTOBER 2026 VOL. 4 / NO. 16

The alternate reality surrounding Charlie Kirk’s assassination His allies thought speculation about his assassination would fade. Nearly a year later, it has only evolved CONTINUES ON PG. 3

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The alternate reality surrounding Charlie Kirk’s assassination His allies thought speculation about his assassination would fade. Nearly a year later, it has only evolved By Emma Pitts

Deseret News

Leadership at Turning Point USA had hoped that after a few months following the assassination of their founder, Charlie Kirk, the public would lose interest in the conspiracies surrounding his death. So they stayed quiet. By December, they realized that wasn’t going to happen. Because the conservative nonprof it intends to pursue Kirk’s mission now, the organization will remain prominent, and therefore, “there will be endless content for the people who just want to lie about us and tear us down for their own purposes,” Blake Neff, a political commentator and producer on “The Charlie Kirk Show,” told the Deseret News. Twenty-three-year-old Tyler Robinson pleaded not guilty to seven charges, including aggravated murder, after a judge earlier this month ruled the state prosecution brought forward “substantial evidence” to bind the case over to trial. Yet a year after Kirk was killed during a public, outdoor event at Utah Valley University, parallel false versions of the case and the details surrounding the incident continue to thrive online. The conspiracy theories vary wildly: Israel orchestrated the killing because Kirk had grown increasingly critical of the Middle Eastern nation. Robinson is a patsy — perhaps set up by Turning Point USA, the FBI or his transgender partner, Lance Twiggs. Robinson wasn’t even on campus that day. There was a second shooter. And the fatal shot could not have come from the rif le investigators recovered near the scene. Many of those claims have persisted in the social dialogue even as prosecutors have publicly laid out surveillance footage, forensic evidence, witness testimony, and even Robinson’s alleged admission tying him to the killing. “Once a person decides it was a targeted operation, every new fact gets folded

Kristin Murphy, Deseret News Charlie Kirk, Turning Point USA founder and president, answers interview questions on the set of “The Charlie Kirk Show” at Turning Point headquarters in Phoenix, Ariz., on Aug. 19, 2025. Kirk was fatally shot while speaking during an event at Utah Valley University in Orem on Sept. 10, 2025.

in. Clean evidence was planted. Missing evidence was scrubbed. There is no result the theory can’t absorb, which means it has stopped being about the murder and started being about loyalty,” Jennica Pounds, better known by her X handle, DataRepublican, told the Deseret News. “Most conspiracy thinking is a hunger for justice that ran out of patience,” she said.

The theories began to germinate instantly

A day after the killing, as Kirk’s TPUSA team boarded Air Force Two with Vice President JD Vance and Kirk’s widow, Erika, Mikey McCoy remembers realizing that the accusations were only beginning. Before taking off, McCoy, Kirk’s former chief of staff, recalled asking one of Kirk’s

security guards if he was OK, to which the man began to break down. “He’s like, ‘There’s conspiracy theories online that are saying that I did this and this,’ and I was like, ‘what are you talking about?’ I remember being so confused,” McCoy said. CONTINUES ON PG. 4

DESERET NEWS | OCTOBER 2026

He added that the gravity of Kirk’s death didn’t fully sink in until Air Force Two landed in Phoenix. “Until we landed in Phoenix and got off Air Force Two, and I saw how many people were out there,” McCoy said. “I just kind of realized, this is gonna be a big thing.” Neff remembers sitting in the waiting room at the Orem, Utah, hospital where Kirk was taken on Sept. 10 and talking about how podcaster Candace Owens would react to Charlie’s death. He said, “Charlie was aware” of Owens’ theories about France’s f irst lady being transgender, as well as what he described as “weird stuff about Jewish cults,” and that some of her views were part of the reason TPUSA had become less involved with Owens around 2024. “Someone said ‘Candace is gonna have an extreme reaction to this,’ and instantly I’m like, ‘yeah, yeah, she will.’” Owens was among the earliest high-prof ile voices to publicly question off icial accounts of the shooting and try to frame Kirk’s killing as a possible hit rather than a straightforward lone-gunman case. At 7 a.m. on Sept. 11, she posted, “Who called the hit on Charlie? We need answers.” Posts implying Israel’s involvement came just days later and were also fed by fellow political commentator Tucker Carlson. In June, Carlson went on a podcast and said that Kirk “was not murdered for his opinions on transgenderism. ... I believe and most people who knew him well as I did and was friends with him as I was believe he was most likely murdered for his evolving views on Israel.” Neff was quick to dispute that claim: “Actually, those of us who knew Charlie best, a group that doesn’t include Tucker, do think that Tyler Robinson did it and was motivated by transgender radicalism. Tucker is lying.” He told the Deseret News that even if the man on trial were to enter a guilty plea, “nothing would ever satisfy these people,” because “they’re too emotionally invested in the conspiracy itself. So it can endlessly evolve.” These online sleuths, Neff said, are “very plainly motivated by desire for attention, desire for money,” and are “actively destroying whatever good might have been able to come out of his death. ... They’re actively trying to ruin whatever legacy his life has left behind, and they’re doing it for these grubby, low reasons, and it just genuinely distresses and disgusts me.”

How these theories stay relevant

In his book “Conspiracy: Why the Rational Believe the Irrational,” science historian Michael Shermer explains that the greater the signif icance of the victim or event, the harder it can be for people to accept an explanation that feels comparatively small — a psychology term called “proportionality bias.” In an excerpt of his book that he shared with the Deseret News, Shermer demonstrated that with Kirk — a famous and politically influential person — a lone individual or a straightforward motive can feel

psychologically inadequate. “Highly influential people and events feel like they need a highly inf luential cause of their death,” he wrote. In another excerpt, he wrote the following: “9/11 is a type specimen: the most consequential terrorist attack in U.S. history can’t possibly have been caused by 19 guys with box cutters, could it? Well, as a matter of fact, yes, that’s exactly how such a massive event could happen, in contrast with the hundreds of thousands of people who would have had to be involved to pull it off as an inside job by the Bush administration.” His point is that it can be more psychologically satisfying to believe that a powerful organization or government orchestrated an event than to accept that history can be dramatically altered by just one person or circumstance. It also helps people have both an explanation and the feeling that they understand what is really happening, he explained. Pounds believes the origins of a conspiracy begin with distrust. She argued that institutional failures, like what occurred with COVID-19 and the lab-leak debate, create conditions in which off icial explanations become inherently suspicious to some people. “Part of why this happens is that people were never really taught the difference between data and narrative. We were taught to trust the experts,” she said. “But the experts, over and over, handed us a narrative instead of the underlying data. So the lesson people actually absorbed wasn’t ‘show me the numbers.’ It was ‘whoever tells the best story wins.’ And when they stopped trusting the off icial story, the only tool they’d ever been handed was to build a better one.” “I don’t think the f ix is scolding ordinary people for not trusting experts. The experts have to earn it back by showing their work, and the public has to be willing to sit with an uncomfortable fact instead of trading it for a more satisfying story,” she added. Pounds has built an online following by doing almost the opposite of traditional conspiracy sleuthing: rather than beginning with a theory, she says she begins with large public datasets, documents and f inancial records and works backward from what evidence shows. She’s done exactly that with the Robinson case, debunking Owens’ claims publicly. “Charlie gave me a platform when nobody knew who I was. I was a deaf, nonspeaking data analyst posting into the void, and he treated my work like it mattered before there was any upside to it. He genuinely made me,” she told the Deseret News. “So when the theories started,” Pounds continued, “I didn’t come to it as a neutral analyst. I came to it as someone who owed him. And the most honest thing I could do was refuse to turn his death into a story that flattered anybody, my own side included. He was a real person. He has a wife and kids and friends who have to read all of this. The least the rest of us can do is get the facts of how he died right.”

Kristin Murphy, Deseret News Charlie Kirk, Turning Point USA founder and president, talks with employees at Turning Point headquarters in Phoenix, Ariz., on Aug. 19, 2025. Kirk was fatally shot on Sept. 10, 2025.

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ELECTION GUIDE

Utah voters turn on incumbents as approval ratings drop into the red Anti-incumbent wave hits Utah, pushing Cox, Lee and Curtis underwater By Brigham Tomco

Deseret News

Utahns handed statewide leaders an overall negative approval rating in August, continuing a downward trend for Gov. Spencer Cox that put his approval rating underwater for the first time, a Deseret News/Hinckley Institute of Politics poll found. The poll of nearly 800 registered Utah voters revealed an anti-incumbent mood that left no one untouched. The state Legislature and Sen. John Curtis dipped into negative territory, while Sen. Mike Lee and Cox took a plunge. Since January, Cox’s approval rating has dropped 10 percentage points from 51% to 41%, with 14% saying they strongly approve and 27% saying they somewhat approve. Meanwhile, total disapproval has risen from 37% to 49%. Growing dissatisfaction is not isolated to Cox. Among Utah voters, President Donald Trump flipped from a 5-point positive approval in January to a 7-point negative rating, and Congress fell further from negative-21 points to negative-30 points. At least some of this can be explained by an unstable economy, high gas prices, expensive cost of living and the ongoing war in Iran, according to Jason Perry, director of the Hinckley Institute of Politics at the University of Utah. “There is clearly broader frustration among Utah voters right now,” Perry said. “Gov. Cox’s decline stands out because we’ve seen it continue over several polls, but I’d be cautious about attributing it to any one issue, including Disagree Better.”

CONTINUES ON PG. 6

Rio Giancarlo, Deseret News Gov. Spencer Cox speaks during a press conference in north central Tooele County on March 27.

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The 8-percentage-point spread between Cox’s disapproval and approval marks the first time that Deseret News surveys have found the governor below water. The data confirms a broader trajectory for the governor in the middle of his second term. Between April 2023 and April 2025, Cox’s job approval fell from 64% to 52% of Utah voters, driven by a 26-point collapse in Democratic support as Cox made more explicit overtures to the Republican Party of Donald Trump. This pattern continued from earlier polls conducted by HarrisX and more recent polls conducted by Morning Consult. Over seven months, the share of Utah voters who strongly disapprove of Cox has nearly doubled from 17% to 31%. During that time, Cox’s approval among self-identified Democrats dropped from 26% to 18%, while his Republican approval held more steady, sliding from 69% to 61%. By far the largest change came from independents.

Data center and Disagree Better

After a legislative session where Cox secured Trump’s support for the Great Salt Lake, and after months of public backlash surrounding a proposed data center, Cox’s approval rating among independents tumbled from 45% to 26%. The Stratos Project in Box Elder County sparked public outcry after Cox and outgoing state Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, helped investor Kevin O’Leary accelerate project approval with military economic development

authorities. If he had to point to one thing, state Sen. Todd Weiler, R-Woods Cross, said he would attribute Cox’s drop in job approval to the way the data center debate developed in the state with the governor’s comments front and center. “I think it’s the data center,” Weiler, who is CEO of Sutherland Institute, told the Deseret News. “Just people feeling like that they weren’t heard and that the process was rushed and that public input wasn’t allowed, or sufficiently allowed.” At the onset of the pushback against the massive site north of the Great Salt Lake, Cox argued that states “have an obligation” to develop AI infrastructure, despite what “people-againstvirtually-everything” might have to say. He later acknowledged the project’s rollout “wasn’t great.” The unpopularity of the data center contributed to Adams being ousted in his June primary election, and eventually led to O’Leary making a televised apology earlier this month. AI is one place where Cox has chosen to use up some of his “political capital,” according to Weiler. The governor’s political capital has also been expended on his personal mission to bridge partisan divides since he entered office in 2021. Initially, this appeared to give the governor a broad coalition of support from voters across the ideological spectrum in the state. This has waned as the governor has taken stands on polarizing issues, from transgender sports to immigration enforcement. For some conservative Utahns, Cox’s Disagree

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Better initiative has been misguided from the start. “It really causes unreliability with the public where we never quite know what we’re going to get,” St. George City Councilwoman Michelle Tanner told the Deseret News. “When you try to appease everyone, you end up appeasing no one.” The governor, who has said he will not run for a third term, continues to lead out on depolarization efforts, writing a forthcoming book on how to avoid political violence, as well as leading a bipartisan task force on legal immigration reform.

Lee and Curtis not spared

Utah’s senior senator also saw his approval rating decline in the past half year. In February, Lee enjoyed an overall approval of 47% and disapproval of 37%. By August, those numbers had reversed to 39% approval and 46% disapproval. In 2019 and 2022, Deseret News surveys conducted by different polling firms found Lee slightly underwater. But the 7-point gap revealed by the latest poll is well outside of the poll’s margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. The shift since February was caused by Lee’s slim Democratic approval dropping from 23% to 10%, and his Republican approval taking a surprising turn from 73% approval to 63% approval in the latest poll conducted from Aug. 6-11. “Sen. Lee has consistently been the most popular and highest-rated Republican within his Party in Utah, whether in statewide or local polling,” Lee’s political strategist, Dan Hauser, said. “As Democrats swing wildly to extremism in their

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support of socialism, it is no wonder that his approval rating suffers with the left.” As an outspoken conservative willing to halt Senate procedures to make himself heard, Lee has waged a campaign in recent months to pass the SAVE America Act, which would require voters to show proof of citizenship and photo identification to vote. Persistent messaging on this topic may have tired out voters who do not fall into the segment of the GOP Lee “caters” to, according to Weiler. He may also be the victim of voter “fatigue” over GOP infighting on foreign wars, Tanner said. As one of Utah’s newest statewide officials, Curtis also saw his overall approval rating fluctuate downward. A positive margin of more than 10 percentage points from early 2025 closed in recent months, disappearing in the August polling. Curtis now stands at 37% total approval and 38% disapproval among Utah voters. However, more than a quarter of Utah voters did not have their mind made up about Curtis — around double the share who said “don’t know” for Lee or Cox. Meanwhile, the Utah Legislature, which is typically judged more harshly than individual elected officials, lost a 6-point positive approval rating over the course of the year, ending up with 44% of voters approving and 45% disapproving. None of Utah’s statewide officials, including Cox, Lee and Curtis, are up for election in the upcoming November midterms. Historically, the party in the White House has fared poorly in midterm races for Congress and governorships.

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GENERAL ELECTION · TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2026

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ELECTION GUIDE

Poll: Utahns weigh in on voter ID and elections Proof-of-citizenship and voter ID requirements are the main components of Utah Sen. Mike Lee’s SAVE America Act, which has been stalled in the Senate for months By Cami Mondeaux

Deseret News

Utah voters overwhelmingly support providing proof of citizenship and a form of photo identif ication when casting a ballot in elections, indicating support for the requirements being proposed in Utah Sen. Mike Lee’s SAVE America Act. Roughly 66% of Utah voters say they support showing proof of U.S. citizenship, such as a birth certif icate or passport, when registering to vote, according to a Deseret News-Hinckley Institute of Politics poll conducted by Morning Consult. Only 26% say they oppose providing that documentation, while 6% say they don’t know. Even more Utahns believe voters should show photo identif ication when they go to cast their ballots in an election, the poll shows. About 81% of Utah voters say they support requiring photo identif ication when they vote, compared to just 14% who say they oppose. Only 4% said they were unsure. The poll indicates massive support for the two main components of the SAVE America Act, an election reform bill being pushed by Lee in Congress. Lee has urged his colleagues for months to pass the legislation, which has been stalled in the Senate due to Democratic opposition. That party-line opposition was evident in the statewide polling as Republicans were far more likely than Democrats to support proof-of-citizenship and voter ID requirements in elections. When it comes to providing documentation when registering to vote, 86% of Republicans said they approve of those requirements compared to just 30% of Democrats, according to the poll. Roughly two-thirds of Democrats (64%) overall said they opposed requirements to provide proof of citizenship. That split was especially discernible when it came to female voters in both parties, likely stemming from contradicting arguments that requiring documentation such as birth certif icates could make it more diff icult for married women to vote. A vast majority of Republican women (85%) say they support the proof-of-citizenship requirement while only 27% of women who identify as Democrats said the same. Democrats have argued for months the SAVE America Act would disenfranchise married women whose last names no longer match their birth certif icates, a primary reason they give for opposing the proposal. Lee has objected to those claims, noting his proposal provides alternative ways to prove one’s citizenship. However, Democrats were more open to photo identif ication requirements when going to cast a ballot. Sixty percent of Democrats say they supported showing photo identif ication when voting, with only 36% saying they’d oppose those

Isaac Hale, Deseret News A poll worker hands a voter back their driver’s license as part of Utah’s primary election at CenterPoint Church in Orem on June 23.

requirements, the poll showed. Still, Republicans were far more supportive of photo ID: 95% of GOP voters say they want identif ication requirements when voting, and only 4% said they’d oppose it, according to the survey.

SAVE America Act blocked in Senate

Although there is wide support for the main components of the SAVE America Act, efforts to establish proof-of-citizenship and voter ID requirements have been blocked in Congress. Much of that has to do with the latest iteration

of Lee’s election bill, which would implement stricter requirements for those voting by mail or with absentee ballots that has further eroded support from Democrats and some Republicans. Lee initially threatened to block the Senate from going on its annual August recess until the SAVE America Act was passed, but the chamber ultimately adjourned for the f iveweek period without a roll call vote. Instead, Republicans teed CONTINUES ON PG. 10

DESERET NEWS | OCTOBER 2026

VOTE REPUBLICAN

GENERAL ELECTION · TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2026

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Utah’s AAA credit rating and strong economy didn’t happen by accident. They reflect years of balanced budgets and disciplined fiscal leadership. Our Utah House candidates will work to: • Require state programs to demonstrate measurable results • Root out waste and fraud • Reduce needless regulations on workers and businesses

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10 DESERET NEWS | OCTOBER 2026 up a vote on a standalone proposal to require voter ID in federal elections, an effort that was shot down by Democrats. Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso told the Deseret News during a recent visit to Utah that the SAVE Act would “absolutely” be a priority for the Senate when lawmakers return to Washington, but f irst Congress needs to fully fund the government past the November midterms. After recent reports that New Jersey mistakenly registered 6,000 noncitizens to vote, Lee told the Deseret News it would be “crazy” not to move forward with the legislation. “It’s a form of insanity to conclude that we should not do this, to conclude that we shouldn’t move heaven and earth to get it done,” Lee told the Deseret News. “It’s leaving our entire system of government in great jeopardy.” Even if the Senate did approve the SAVE America Act, it would likely be too late for states to implement those changes before the midterm elections. The National Voter Registration Act dictates that when a state administers a program to “systematically remove the names of ineligible voters from the off icial lists of eligible voters,” it has to be done 90 days before a primary or general election. Election Day is on Nov. 3, so that deadline passed during the f irst full week of August. Contributing: Brigham Tomco

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VOTE REPUBLICAN

GENERAL ELECTION · TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2026

UTAH STATE SENATE

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The Utah Senate serves as an essential check on how state tax dollars are spent. The stated priorities of these Senate candidates include: • Maintaining balanced budgets and transparent accounting • Conducting audits to identify waste, fraud, and abuse • Returning surplus revenue to taxpayers

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Every Utah child deserves an excellent education, and every parent deserves a meaningful voice. The stated priorities of these State School Board candidates include: • Prioritizing academic achievement • Strengthening reading, mathematics, and civics instruction • Keeping classrooms focused on learning • Directing more education funding toward classrooms and teachers

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DESERET NEWS | OCTOBER 2026

ELECTION GUIDE

Supreme Court rejects Trump request to change mail-in voting It’s the final ruling from the court, for now, in the matter as early voting begins across the country By Lauren Irwin

Deseret News

The Supreme Court on Sept. 14 ruled against President Donald Trump and his effort to create new mail-in ballot restrictions ahead of the 2026 November midterm elections. The order stops the United States Postal Service from implementing changes to mail-in ballots proposed by the Trump administration and instead instructs the agency to continue with the upcoming election as normal. Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote a short concurrence in which he agreed with the majority of justices who said the administration’s request should be denied. Their decision will leave in place a block from late last month by a federal judge in Boston that said USPS’ finalized rule was unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in August reluctantly lifted a nationwide injunction she previously placed after the Supreme Court said she and state challengers to Trump’s order acted prematurely. The justices in that emergency order said Trump could begin executing parts of his executive order since the Postal Service’s rule for changing mail-in ballots was in a preliminary stage and not finalized. However, once the agency issued its finalized rule, the Democratic-led states sued again, leading Talwani to issue another block and bring the matter before the Supreme Court again. The court’s more ideologically conservative justices, Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, opposed the decision. Alito, in his dissent, argued some of the Democratic-led states didn’t have grounds to sue the administration.

Sen. Lee continues to push for SAVE Act

Mail-in voting is an issue that’s important to Utah Sen. Mike Lee, who authored the SAVE Act in Congress, which requires proof-ofcitizenship to register and voter ID to cast a ballot, but it has stalled in the Senate. He shared online after the justices’ ruling that “Alito and Thomas are right–again.” “The Senate still needs to pass the SAVE America Act–now more than ever,” Lee wrote. The other part of Trump’s order would have directed the Postal Service to follow new provisions for mail-in ballots. Envelopes sent by state election off ices must be marked as “Official Election Mail,” and include a unique, trackable barcode. The Postal Service would have had to coordinate with the Department of Justice for investigations into the unlawful use of federal election mail. The preliminary rule published by USPS required states to provide the federal government with a list of voters who receive mail-in ballots, including name, address and the individualized barcode on their ballot envelope.

Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News Lt. Governor representative Rozan Mitchell, left, observes Shemia Splonskowski reviewing post marks at the Salt Lake County Clerk’s office begin recounting the Colby Jenkins and Rep. Celeste Maloy race ballots in Salt Lake City on July 30, 2024.

The group of 24 states and the District of Columbia that sued the administration over the order argued the measures violate the Constitution and other federal statutes. Under the Constitution, only Congress can pass laws related to elections and individual state legislatures have their own authority to conduct elections as they see fit. They also argued it would harm the states by imposing “burdensome” mail-in voting requirements, particularly so close to the November election.

It wasn’t just Democratic-led states opposed to the changes, though. Utah Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson told the Deseret News in a statement that her team was “relieved” the Boston-based judge blocked USPS from enforcing the changes, calling them unconstitutional. CONTINUES ON PG. 16

DESERET NEWS | OCTOBER 2026

PeterCrosbyForCongress.org

Northern Utah is my neighborhood. I‘ll bring Utah values back to D.C. I am a first-generation college graduate from a family rooted in service to our great country. My wife and I, and our three daughters, proudly call Cache Valley home. I’ve spent my career balancing family life with multiple full-time jobs at a time to make ends meet. My professional experience offers skills ranging from leadership positions in a Fortune 500 company, to an adjunct faculty position at Utah State University where I taught American Institutions for seven years and currently teach graduate courses on emergent technology. Having lived here for nearly 20 years, I am uniquely positioned to understand the needs of Northern Utahns, and the industries that keep our economy moving in a way a career politician never will be. I’m running for Congress because our community deserves steady, common-sense leadership that will focus on real answers to the problems Utah faces. The system was created by people and it can be fixed by people. So, let’s fix it.

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DESERET NEWS | OCTOBER 2026

Michael Finch has lived on the west side for 48 years, raised seven children here, and ran a small business in West Valley City for nearly three decades. Vote for Michael Finch for State House. Defending the Constitution

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DESERET NEWS | OCTOBER 2026

STANDING FOR UTAH FAMILIES

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DESERET NEWS | OCTOBER 2026

Henderson said the ruling from the Supreme Court was “expected.” “Utahns can have confidence that the 2026 election will proceed as normal,” she said. “We encourage voters to check their voter registration.” Utahns can check their voter registration and sign up for ballot tracking. Registration ends Oct. 23 but voters can sign up for same-day registration with two valid forms of ID on Election Day. Ballots will begin being mailed to Utah voters on Oct. 13.

Midterm elections only a month away

Before the late ruling, the clock was ticking for the matter to end up before the court again. The ruling came less than two months until the Nov. 3 midterm elections, and ballots in at least two states, North Carolina and Alabama, had already begun to be sent out. The battle over mail-in ballots isn’t new to Trump, who has long been against the voting method and claimed the 2020 presidential election was rigged due to changing rules around mailin ballots because of the pandemic. While no evidence has surfaced of widespread voter fraud, Trump’s order directed the Department of Homeland Security, in partnership with the Social Security Administration, to compile state-by-state citizenship lists of confirmed U.S. citizens who are 18 years or older. It’s the latest move from the administration to ensure non-citizens aren’t voting in U.S. elections.

States that sued over Trump’s order argued their voter rolls would be targeted because of their majority-Democratic constituencies. Trump, who saw some wins at the high court this term and some major losses, issued a blistering post after the justices’ ruling, saying the Republican Party got “another bad decision” from the Supreme Court. He argued the justices took “forever” to take up the issue and then “blamed it” on having “no time left to implement a solution” before November. Trump argued that the country’s mail-in voting system is a “laughing stock all over the world.” “The Supreme Court has really let our Country down! Certain Justices are petrified of these crazed and depraved Democrats, and are totally unable to show the courage necessary to save our America,” he wrote. Trump went on to criticize the justices for the two rulings against his key agenda items, his tariff agenda which was struck down in February, and the effort to overturn birthright citizenship which the justices deemed unconstitutional in late June. “The Supreme Court is bullied and cajoled by the Radical Left into making decisions that have set America back at least a hundred years. These are not the people I interviewed to serve on the United States Supreme Court, they are merely a shell of their original selves,” he wrote of his three nominees, Justices Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett and Neil Gorsuch, who often are the deciding group for if rulings go in the president’s favor.

Kristin Murphy, Deseret News Tim Schorzman, Salt Lake County Clerk’s Office asset coordinator, runs the Agilis ballot sorting machine at the Salt Lake County Government Center in Salt Lake City on Oct. 31, 2024.

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DESERET NEWS | OCTOBER 2026

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DESERET NEWS | OCTOBER 2026

ELECTION GUIDE

When politics become part of a voter’s identity, policy falls to the wayside As the political landscape changes, several factors are competing to influence voter behavior — for better and for worse By Emily Walker

Deseret News

While politicians still act like policy matters in elections, for many voters that is no longer the case. As a recent focus group in Los Angeles showed, for many voters partisanship is more important than policy, and crossing the line to vote for the other side is a bridge too far. “The traditional ideas in political science were that voters will try to pick candidates who are close to them on the issues that are most important to them,” Scott Huettel, a professor in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at Duke University, told the Deseret News. “The challenge is that … voters don’t always work that way.” For many voters, their vote doesn’t just represent what they believe in, but rather who they are, or who they believe themselves to be based upon how they vote. What does that mean? “Eighty or ninety percent of elections are determined simply by partisanship at this point,” Jared Abbott, a researcher at the Center for Working-Class Politics, told the Deseret News.

Candidate policy and voter identity are competing influences on voter behavior

“The act of voting to reinforce and support policy and the act of voting to reinforce and support identity can actually compete with each other,” Huettel said, describing the way each influences voter behavior. Voting decisions, Huettel said, are a combination of policy considerations and an inner appeal to a political or social identity. When it comes time for voters to f ill out a ballot, these two concepts become a trade-off within a voter’s mind. “If you’re the sort of person who really cares about policy, identity doesn’t matter so much,” Huettel said. “And if you’re the sort of person whose votes reinforce their identity, then policy doesn’t matter so much.” Associating voting with a political identity can even make policy “irrelevant,” Huettel said.

Los Angeles serves as a case study for this kind of voter behavior

A recent focus group conducted by the Manhattan Institute provided evidence that Los Angeles is an example of a city where voters attach identity to their vote, sometimes with more weight than policy. The focus group included nineteen voters, including nine Democratic voters and ten voters with no party preference. Voters complained of a government that was expensive, disorderly and incapable of performing basic functions. When asked to assign a grade to how well city officials were serving residents,

Zoë Petersen, Deseret News

their given scores averaged a C. Yet, even though they were dissatisfied with their government and representatives, voters did not indicate any desire to change the party in power. Instead of moving to the middle, already progressive voters seemed to want greater socialism to bring about change. Jesse Arm, vice president of external affairs at the Manhattan Institute, identified this as a “disconnect between voters’ diagnosis of the city’s problems and their willingness to reconsider the politics that produced them.” “These voters were deeply frustrated by affordability, homelessness, crime, waste, and basic government incompetence, but

many continued to interpret those failures through a progressive framework,” Arm said in a statement to the Deseret News. Arm explained that voters were often receptive to ideas associated with the political right, but not if the ideas came from a “Republican messenger.” “That suggests the challenge for reformers in deeply Democratic places like Los Angeles is not simply persuading voters that the status quo is failing; many already believe that,” Arm said. “It’s convincing them that meaningful change may require looking beyond their existing partisan and ideological assumptions.” “It is an important phenomenon to watch heading into the midterms,” Arm said.

DESERET NEWS | OCTOBER 2026

Political polarization is likely shaping partisan voting

Partisan hostility is on the rise in the U.S., and may be a growing influence on voter choice — especially voters casting a ballot in an “identity-based” fashion. Abbott conducted a study that examined voters who voted for Trump in 2024. His research found that some of the voters were wavering in their support and even shared an unwillingness to vote for a Republican candidate in 2028. However, instead of turning to a Democratic candidate, many voters said they were unsure if they would vote at all. “We’ve been kind of, you know, conditioned to think that the other side is bad,” Abbott said, explaining the partisan inf luence behind this choice. Voters had such a negative view about an opposing candidate they would rather drop out of politics altogether than vote for a candidate from the opposing party. Steven Webster, an associate professor of political science at Indiana University Bloomington, has done research on what he referred to as “negative partisanship,” meaning loyalty to a party that stems not from positive feelings towards one party, but negative feelings towards another. “It could be the case that voters are identifying themselves more by what they’re not for, or by what they’re against than what they are or what they’re for,” Webster said in a

conversation with the Deseret News. “A voter might be better served at the local level by somebody who isn’t part of their party,” Webster said. “But because partisanship is so all-encompassing in American politics, I think some voters miss that possibility because of their, in some sense, blind partisan loyalty.” Webster said there are some benef its to polarization. As parties become more distinct, for example it “clarif ies choices at the ballot box,” where “D” or “R” labels might provide a “shortcut” that “simplif ies” the voter’s choice. Polarization becomes problematic, however, when it moves from “ideological polarization” to “affective polarization,” Webster said, meaning members of each party “simply dislike the other side more” because of differing policy positions. “Arguably, this affective type of polarization is more problematic than ideological polarization, because this affective polarization spills over into everyday life, and it makes partisans unwilling to even associate in apolitical settings with people whose political beliefs are different than their own,” Webster said. This affects voter behavior in that “there are some people who might just dispositionally be unwilling to engage in a process that is so acrimonious and so bitter like politics often can be,” Webster said.

STATE SENATE

UTAH DISTRICT 7

IT’S TIME FOR CHANGE

Transparency & public input Protecting local control and our conservative values Fresh voice pushing back on the political establishment Addressing data center concerns Protecting our resources Housing solutions that work for us Protecting Hill Air Force Base

Stephanie Hollist is an attorney, a mom and community member, and a Republican. She has worked at the highest levels of state government, helping shape public policy. She stepped up to run against a strong incumbent because she is unafraid of pushing back on special interests. She will work for our families and our community.

Stephanie can stand up to strong leaders. Because she is a strong leader.

Learn more: votestephaniehollist.com Republican ballots will be mailed the week of June 2.

CALL OR TEXT STEPHANIE: 801-390-2829 GO TO THE POLLS ON JUNE 23. VOTE!! Ballots not received on or before June 23 will not be counted, regardless of postmark date.

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THE SYSTEM MATTERS. REJECT THE TWO-PARTY SYSTEM.

Even if we send a good person to Washington, adding a soldier to their respective party trench doesn't fix our problems. If the machine keeps breaking, don't blame the tools; fix the system. We can repair our democracy.

Send an Engineer to Washington.

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DESERET NEWS | OCTOBER 2026

GENERAL CONFERENCE

THE DESERET DIGEST 2026

October 2026 General Conference Jeffrey D. Allred, for the Deseret News

DESERET NEWS | OCTOBER 2026

Understanding Autism, Empowering Children

Watch how BYU students are building confidence through connection. It’s one way we show our love for all God’s children. BY U. E DU/ FORTH E WORL D

FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE WORLD

DESERET NEWS | OCTOBER 2026

GENERAL CONFERENCE

Behind the scenes of general conference: ‘Audio and Light’ A new video offers a glimpse at the technicians and engineers who inspect every fixture, microphone and audio speaker so messages reach millions By Trent Toone

Church News

Before thousands f ill the Conference Center for general conference, audio and lighting engineers inspect every f ixture, speaker, microphone and visual element so that inspired messages centered on Jesus Christ can reach audiences clearly and without distraction. Jody Hadf ield, a broadcast and events producer, likens the effort to crewing a ship. “It takes a lot of different people on a ship to get it to where it needs to be,” she said. “They all have their role, they all know their job, and they do it really well.” Added Braden Earl Howard, a lighting specialist: “We play our little part in carrying the words of the prophets to the world.” Hadf ield and Howard are among the technicians featured in “Audio and Light,” a new behind-the-scenes video produced by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is the f irst in a series created to help people prepare for October 2026 general conference. F ifty years ago, general conference was mainly an in-person event. Now there are 21,000 gathered in the Conference Center and millions watching and listening around the world. “It may look like we’re just turning on microphones and making things louder, but we’re also making sure that everybody here has the opportunity to hear the message,” said Aaron Kobel, one of the lead live audio engineers. “The Lord’s message is going to get across. It will be heard across the world, no matter what.” Hadf ield said the audio and lighting engineers pay close attention to every detail. The Conference Center’s production lighting typically includes between 900 and 1,100 f ixtures. More than 500 audio speakers are distributed throughout the Conference Center, each section served by its own speaker to ensure that every seat, from the front row to the back, receives clear sound. “We don’t want there to be any distractions to the message and the Spirit,” Hadf ield said. Overhead, just under 2 miles of catwalks allow technicians to reach every f ixture without lowering equipment to the floor — a design feature that makes the Conference Center unique among venues of its size. Audio engineers also walk “miles and miles” to verify sound quality both in the building and on the broadcast. Between sessions, they walk every row and section again to conf irm that all speakers are functioning. Hadf ield works directly with conference speakers on the visuals that accompany their talks, displayed on screens throughout the hall. “We work really hard to make sure that

Screenshot from YouTube Aaron Kobel, an audio engineer for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, tests microphone audio before general conference. Kobel is one of several audio and lighting technicians featured in a new video about the behind-the-scenes work involved with general conference.

those visuals help enhance their message,” she said. The team even maintains a book of pulpit height measurements — hundreds of names long — so that anyone who has ever addressed general conference can return to a podium already set for them. The technical team prepares just as carefully for the unexpected. Backup spotlights stand ready if a primary f ixture fails. Contingency plans — “Plan B’s and Plan C’s” — are reviewed in advance, Kobel said. “We all, as a team, try very hard to make sure we’re in tune with the Spirit so that we can anticipate things,” Howard said. “The Lord is very much in the details of general conference — in every facet of it.”

Hadf ield wishes everybody could share her front-row seat to general conference. “There are often tears in the control room while we are listening. It’s a pretty special experience,” she said. “We feel it when we’re working, and you can see it and feel it on the other side of the broadcast when people watch it.” The video continues a series the Church started in March 2025, when it released three behind-the-scenes videos ahead of April 2025 general conference highlighting the work of the staging crew, guest services and interpreters. Two more followed before October 2025 general conference — one on the broadcast team and another on the Church’s magazines and their role in publishing conference messages.

DESERET NEWS | OCTOBER 2026

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DESERET NEWS | OCTOBER 2026

GENERAL CONFERENCE

Dedications announced for Tennessee and Utah temples By Joel Randall

Church News

Temple dedications in Tennessee and Utah, with their coordinating open houses, were announced Sept. 14 by the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Knoxville Tennessee Temple will be dedicated Sunday, March 7, 2027, by Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. A public open house will be held from Wednesday, Jan. 27, through Saturday, Feb. 13, 2027, excluding Sundays. This will follow a Jan. 25 media day and invited-guest tours on Jan. 26, 2027. The Smithf ield Utah Temple w ill be

dedicated Sunday, April 18, 2027, by Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. A public open house will be held from Thursday, Feb. 25, through Saturday, March 27, 2027, excluding Sundays. This will follow a Feb. 22 media day and invited-guest tours Feb. 23-24, 2027. Both dedications will be broadcast to all units within their respective temple districts. These dates were published in a Sept. 14 news release on ChurchofJesusChrist.org. Here’s what to know about the Knoxville and Smithf ield temples, along with the history of the Church in each’s state.

The Knoxville temple and the Church in Tennessee

On April 3, 2022, then-Church President Russell M. Nelson announced this temple for Knoxville. It was one of 17 temples announced in the April 2022 general conference. On Jan. 27, 2024, Elder Shayne M. Bowen — then a General Authority Seventy and f irst counselor in the North America Southeast Area presidency — presided over the groundbreaking. Elder Bowen, who received emeritus status in 2024, said at the ceremony: “God is bringing His work to His people so that we can enter in and worship in the holy temple, receive the

saving ordinances that will allow us to return home and live in His presence as families forever. There’s nothing better than that.” Two operating temples are in the state — the Memphis Tennessee Temple, dedicated in April 2000, and the Nashville Tennessee Temple, dedicated the month after, in May 2000. The Knoxville temple is planned to be the state’s third. Tennessee is home to around 62,000 Church members in more than 120 wards and branches. Missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints f irst arrived in 1834 to the state, located in the southeastern United States.

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GENERAL CONFERENCE

Church to dedicate 7 temples over 4 Sundays in October, November A look at same-day temple dedications of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and those done over short periods of time By Scott Taylor

Church News

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will soon dedicate seven new temples over four consecutive Sundays. In November 1999, a plane’s mechanical failure resulted in two temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints being dedicated on the same calendar date — the Church’s f irst same-day dedications of two of its houses of the Lord. Three similar same-day dedications were scheduled and realized the following year, with a break of more than two decades before two temples were dedicated on the same date in 2022. Same-day dedications happened twice in 2023 — including the f irst day of three temples being dedicated — and once again in 2024. Already in 2026, the Church has had three same-day temple dedications. And then later this year, the Church will dedicate seven new temples over a period of four consecutive Sundays — the most temple dedications in the shortest period of time, and each in a separate state or country. The seven houses of the Lord — the Miraflores Guatemala City Guatemala, Ephraim Utah, Managua Nicaragua, Montpelier Idaho, Cody Wyoming, San Luis Potosí and Wichita Kansas temples — will each be dedicated on one of four Sundays: Oct. 11, Oct. 18, Oct. 25 or Nov. 1. And three of those Sundays will see double temple dedications — the f irst time so many same-day dedications have come so close together. Three weeks later — on Sunday, Nov. 22 — another pair will be dedicated on the same day: the Torreón Mexico and Modesto California temples. Combining all the completed and scheduled temple dedications to date, the Church will have seven same-day temple dedications in 2026 — or half of the total since 1999 in just a single year. And those seven same-day dedications will have occurred over just a six-month period. The First Presidency has announced the following dedications of houses of the Lord and respective assigned leaders from the Quorum

Church News graphic These seven temples — from left to right and top to bottom: the Miraflores Guatemala City Guatemala, Ephraim Utah, Managua Nicaragua, Montpelier Idaho, Cody Wyoming, Wichita Kansas and San Luis Potosí temples — will be dedicated on Sundays from Oct. 11 to Nov. 1.

of the Twelve Apostles to preside during that four-weekend period: • Sunday, Oct. 11 — the Miraflores Guatemala City Guatemala Temple, with Elder Gerrit W. Gong • Sunday, Oct. 11 — the Ephraim Utah

Temple, with Elder Ronald A. Rasband • Sunday, Oct. 18 — the Managua Nicaragua Temple, with Elder Rasband • Sunday, Oct. 18 — the Montpelier Idaho Temple, with a presiding leader still to be announced

• Sunday, Oct. 25 — the Cody Wyoming Temple, with Elder Clark G. Gilbert

CONTINUES ON PG. 32

DESERET NEWS | OCTOBER 2026

Peripheral Neuropathy WARNING! Taylorsville, UT - The most common method your doctor will recommend to treat your neuropathy is with prescription drugs that may temporarily reduce your symptoms. These drugs have names such as Gabapentin, Lyrica, Cymbalta, and Neurontin, and are primarily antidepressant or anti-seizure drugs. These drugs may cause you to feel uncomfortable and have a variety of harmful side effects.

Figure 1: Notice the very small blood vessels surrounding each nerve.

Peripheral neuropathy is a result of damage to the nerves often causing weakness, pain, numbness, tingling, and the most debilitating balance problems. This damage is commonly caused by a lack of blood flow to the nerves in the hands and feet which causes the nerves to begin to degenerate due to lack of nutrient flow.

As you can see in Figure 2, as the blood vessels that surround the nerves become diseased they shrivel up which causes the nerves to not get the nutrients to continue to survive. When these nerves begin to “die” they cause you to have balance problems, pain, numbness, tingling, burning, and many additional symptoms.

The main problem is that your doctor has told you to just live with the problem or try the drugs which you don’t like taking because they make you feel uncomfortable. There is now a facility right here in Taylorsville that offers you hope without taking those endless drugs with serious side effects. (see the Figure 2: When these very special neuropathy severity small blood vessels become examination at the end of this diseased they begin to article) In order to effectively shrivel up and the nerves treat your neuropathy three begin to degenerate. factors must be determined. 1)What is the underlying cause? 2)How Much Nerve Damage Has Been Sustained. NOTE: Once you have sustained 85% nerve loss, there is likely nothing that we can do for you. 3) How much treatment will your condition require? The treatment that is provided at The Action Chiropractic Center has three main goals: 1) Increase blood flow 2) Stimulate small fiber nerves 3) Decrease brain-based pain

The treatment to increase blood flow utilizes a specialized lowlevel light therapy (not to be confused with laser therapy) us-ing light emitting diode technology. This technology was originally developed by NASA to assist in increasing blood flow.

Figure 3: The blood vessels will grow back around the nerves much like a plant’s roots grow when watered.

The low level light therapy is like watering a plant. The light therapy will allow the blood ves-sels to grow back around the peripheral nerves and provide them with the proper nutrients to heal and repair. It’s like adding water to a plant and seeing the roots grow deeper and deeper.

will consist of a detailed sensory evaluation, extensive peripheral vascular testing, and a detailed analysis of the findings of your neuropathy. Dr. Rob Scranton will be offering this neuropathy severity examination from now until October 31, 2026. Call (801) 966-9100 to make an appointment with Dr. Rob Scranton to determine if your peripheral neuropathy can be treated. The patient and any other person responsible for payment has a right to refuse to pay, cancel payment, or be reimbursed for payment for any other service, examination or treatment that is performed as a result of and within 72 hours of responding to the advertisement for the free, discounted fee, or reduced fee service, examination or treatment.

The amount of treatment needed to allow the nerves to fully recover varies from person to person and can only be determined after a detailed neurological and vascular evaluation. As long as you have not sustained at least 85% nerve damage there is hope!

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Church News archives President Gordon B. Hinckley waves outside the Halifax Nova Scotia Temple on Nov. 14, 1999.

• Sunday, Nov. 1 — the San Luis Potosí Mexico Temple, with Elder Dale G. Renlund • Sunday, Nov. 1 — the Wichita Kansas Temple, with Elder Patrick Kearon Also, later in the month, on Sunday, Nov. 22, the Torreón Mexico Temple will be dedicated by Elder Gary E. Stevenson of the Modesto California Temple will be dedicated by Elder Quentin L. Cook, both of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. The Church currently has 385 total houses of the Lord, including 219 dedicated temples and under construction, 11 scheduled for dedication, 50 under construction and f ive scheduled for groundbreaking. The 100 temples in planning and design complete the total of 385. “What a blessing it is that so many temples have been announced,” said Elder Cook, who chairs the Church’s Temple and Family History Executive Council, to the Church News. “It is amazing to see f irsthand the construction and dedication of these new temples — sometimes two on the same day. “We are grateful for the spiritual guidance President Dallin H. Oaks is receiving as the hastening of God’s work continues in a dramatic fashion.” Following is a closer look at past same-day dedications and dedications conducted during a short time frame.

Same-day dedications

In reality, the Church’s f irst two-dedication day wasn’t planned as such. In November 1999, Church President Gordon B. Hinckley was scheduled to dedicate temples on back-to-back days — the Halifax Nova Scotia Temple on Saturday, Nov. 13, and the Regina Saskatchewan Temple on Sunday, Nov. 14. However, mechanical issues with the jet President Hinckley was to use resulted in a day’s delay. The decision was made to have him dedicate the Halifax temple a day later than planned, with President Boyd K. Packer, the acting president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, to preside at the Regina dedication on its scheduled date. The result: the Halifax and Regina temple dedications both occurred on Sunday, Nov. 14, 1999. The next year, as the Church continued its push to meet President Hinckley’s announced goal to have 100 dedicated temples by the end of the century, same-day dedications occurred three times in 2000. On Sunday, April 23, 2000, President James E. Faust, second counselor in the First Presidency, dedicated the Memphis Tennessee Temple while President Thomas S. Monson, then First Presidency f irst counselor, dedicated the Reno Nevada Temple. On Sunday, May 21, 2000, President Faust

DESERET NEWS | OCTOBER 2026 dedicated the Nashville Tennessee Temple while President Monson dedicated the Villahermosa Mexico Temple — with the latter having dedicated the Tampico Mexico Temple the day before. And on Sunday, June 4, 2000, President Hinckley dedicated the Montreal Quebec Temple as President Faust dedicated the San José Costa Rica Temple. President Hinckley then left for the Pacif ic Rim and South Pacif ic to dedicate four additional temples from June 11 through June 18. Two decades later, the Church once again had two new houses of the Lord dedicated on the same day, Sunday, Nov. 20, 2022 — the Belém Brazil Temple and the Quito Ecuador Temple, by Elder Renlund and Elder Cook. And 10 months later, another historic multiple-dedication day occurred — Sunday, Sept. 17, 2023, marked the f irst and only time so far of three houses of the Lord being dedicated on the same day in three distant cities about as different and diverse as can be. The Apostles doing the dedications were Elder Neil L. Andersen at the Brasília Brazil Temple, Elder David A. Bednar at the Bentonville Arkansas Temple and Elder Cook at the Moses Lake Washington Temple. Three Sundays later, another two houses of the Lord were dedicated on Oct. 8, 2023, the McAllen Texas Temple by then-Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf and the Feather River California Temple by Elder Ulisses Soares,

both of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. On Sunday, June 16, 2024, then-Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles dedicated the Salta Argentina Temple, and Elder Bednar dedicated the Layton Utah Temple. In 2026, two same-Sunday dedications occurred f ive weeks apart. On May 3, President Henry B. Eyring, f irst counselor in the First Presidency, dedicated the Lindon Utah Temple, while half way around the world, Elder Renlund dedicated the Davao Philippines Temple. And on June 7, President Christofferson, now second counselor in the First Presidency, dedicated the Yorba Linda California Temple, and President Uchtdorf, now acting president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, dedicated the Willamette Valley Oregon Temple.

Multiple dedications in short periods of time

The seven dedications of houses of the Lord from Oct. 11 through Nov. 1 will be the Church’s most temple dedications for the Church over a four-weekend period. But a number of multiweek periods during the aforementioned push for completed temples in 2000 rival the seven-over-four stretch. And in 2000, the three members of the First Presidency — President Hinckley and his counselors, President Monson and President Faust — were the ones dedicating

the temples, unlike today, with dedications spread out among the 15 members of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Also, a number of the dedications that year were conducted on successive weekend days, not just on Sundays. Some others were done on weekdays. Early in 2000, the Church had six temple dedications over a four-weekend period from late February to mid-March. First, President Hinckley dedicated Ciudad Juárez Mexico Temple on Saturday, Feb. 26; the Hermosillo Sonora Mexico Temple on Sunday, Feb. 27; and the Albuquerque New Mexico Temple on Sunday, March 5. Then President Faust dedicated the Oaxaca Mexico Temple on Saturday, March 11, and the Tuxtla Gutiérrez Mexico Temple on Sunday, March 12, followed by the Sunday, March 19, dedication of the Louisville Kentucky Temple by President Monson. Less than a month later, the Church had f ive dedications over four Sundays — the Fresno California Temple by President Hinckley on April 9, the Medford Oregon Temple by President Faust on April 16, the aforementioned April 23 dedications of the Memphis temple (by President Faust) and Reno temple (President Monson) and the Cochabamba Bolivia Temple by President Hinckley on April 30. And that doesn’t include the Thursday,

April 6, dedication of the Palmyra New York Temple by President Hinckley, making it six dedications of houses of the Lord over a period of three and a half weeks. Six temple dedications were spread over a period of three weekends — actually, just 15 days — in June 2000, beginning with the aforementioned June 4 dedications of the Montreal and San José temples. Those were followed by four Eastern Hemisphere dedications by President Hinckley beginning a week later — the Fukuoka Japan Temple on Sunday, June 11, the Adelaide Australia Temple on Thursday, June 15, the Melbourne Australia Temple on Friday, June 16, and the Suva Fiji Temple on Sunday, June 18. If you skip over Memorial Day weekend in 2000 and add in the three dedications the preceding weekend, that’s nine dedications of houses of the Lord happening over a period of f ive weekends. That includes the Saturday, May 20, dedication of the Tampico Mexico Temple by President Monson, the Sunday, May 21, dedications of the Nashville Tennessee Temple by President Faust and the Villahermosa Mexico Temple by President Monson. And in 2023, f ive temples were dedicated over four weekends, with an October general conference conducted in between. Actually, the f ive came via just two same-dedication Sundays — Sept. 17 with the Brasília, Bentonville and Moses Lake temples; and Oct. 8 with the McAllen and Feather River temples.

34 DESERET NEWS | OCTOBER 2026

GENERAL CONFERENCE

Scriptures contain ‘powerful patterns for our lives,’ Elder Bednar tells YSAs At 2026 Utah Area YSA Conference devotional, Church leaders and young adults discuss faith, agency and seeking divine strength By Joel Randall

Church News

PROVO — For Sister Grace Oborn of Pleasant Grove, Utah, what stuck with her wasn’t just what Elder David A. Bednar said in a Sunday, Sept. 13, devotional; it was what the Spirit taught her through his words. “When they were talking about doing your best, I had this sentence strongly impressed in my mind of, ‘Do your best, but include the Lord, because we cannot save ourselves,’” said Sister Oborn, a Utah Orem Mission service missionary, after the evening devotional. In this concluding event of the 2026 Utah Area Young Single Adult Conference, Elder Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles discussed several “patterns” in the scriptures that YSAs can apply “individually and personally.” “The scriptures contain numerous, endless patterns that we can use as we strive to become devoted, lifelong disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ,” he said. “In the scriptures, seemingly ordinary events can help us see powerful patterns for our lives.” Elder Bednar and his wife, Sister Susan Bednar, hosted a panel discussion with Elder Brian K. Taylor and his wife, Sister Jill Taylor, along with four young adults: Avalon Marker from Ogden, Utah; Junni Tau from American Fork, Utah; Elijah Tolbert from Salt Lake City; and Breanne Cook from Brigham City, Utah. Elder Taylor is a General Authority Seventy and president of the Church’s Utah Area. The group spoke to nearly 20,000 young adults in the Marriott Center at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, with remarks also livestreamed to YSA gatherings around the state.

Faith is a principle of action

Elder Bednar read Doctrine and Covenants 80:1-3, which in part says, “Go ye and preach my gospel,” but where to go “it mattereth not, for ye cannot go amiss” (verse 3). Marker said that when looking for a life purpose, “if we just get going and we have the Lord in mind, whatever we do, God’s going to be happy.” Tau added that “He leaves the invitation up to us, and He wants us to choose.” Elder Bednar said that “faith is a principle of action and of trust and of power. We learn, we hear the word of God, then we do it. That is faith.” Although young adults may not have perfect knowledge on where to go, Tolbert said, “trust that He’s going to guide you to the right place or do the right thing.” Sister Bednar said, “Sometimes we hesitate to share the gospel because we are afraid or we think we do not know enough.” Yet she acknowledged that for those who know the gospel to be true, “it is important to share it wherever we can.”

Lukas Katilius, Deseret News Thousands gather for the 2026 Utah Area Young Single Adult Conference devotional in the Marriott Center in Provo on Sept. 13.

God gives agency to choose

In Doctrine and Covenants 62:4-9, the Lord tells the early Saints through revelation to “declare glad tidings unto the inhabitants of the earth,” adding the charge “to do according to judgment and the directions of the Spirit.” “He trusts us to: ‘Go forward. I’ll be with you,’” said Elder Taylor. “These words of His confidence in us are actually thrilling to me.” Sister Taylor mentioned the brother of Jared building barges in Ether 2. While the Lord answered some of his concerns, He left the concern of lighting the barges to the brother of Jared (see verse 25). “I love that sometimes He gives us what He needs, and other times He lets us decide.” Marker added that more power comes as young adults work together. “When we are unified in a goal, that’s when the miracles take place.”

Tau explained: “If we do not know what to do, all we can do is try our best. And when we are faithful on our end, He will be more than faithful on His end.”

Seeking divine strength helps overcome trials

When Nephi was bound with cords in the Book of Mormon, he didn’t pray for the trial to be taken away; he prayed for strength to burst through the bands (see 1 Nephi 7:17). “He understood the Savior’s Atonement and that he did not have to rely uniquely and alone on his own power,” said Elder Bednar. “I think it is remarkable that he could have divine assistance, through his faithfulness, to do what he otherwise could never do.” Cook said she always prays for burdens to be taken away. But Sunday’s panel helped her find “a mindset shift of, ‘If they can’t be taken away, help me be able to endure them.’”

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EVENTS FESTIVALS GLEN RAY’S CORN MAZE & F IELD OF FRIGHT DATE: Oct. 3–31

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Tales suited for teenagers and adults. STITCHING THROUGH THE PAST DATE: Oct. 24

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