The 31st Utah Territorial Legislature met in 1894. The regular election for the Territorial Council and the House of Representatives was held November 7, 1893.
The legislative session convened on January 8, 1894, in Salt Lake City, and ended on March 12, 1894. Unlike previous legislatures that typically met at City Hall, this body convened in the Wasatch building, using remodeled space that had previously served as the federal courthouse.
Based on the initial election results, the Republican majority in the House would only have been 14-10. However, the Republicans were able to increase their advantage when Clarence W. Hall, a Liberal who identified with the Democratic Party in national politics, died and was replaced in a special election by Charles S. Varian, a Liberal who identified as a Republican.
Meanwhile, the closest ballot involved two candidates from Springville in the 11th district. As initially certified by the Utah Commission overseeing the election, the result favored Democrat Alexander G. Robertson with 858 votes over Republican Hugh M. Dougall with 856 votes. Dougall protested the outcome because the county court had created a new precinct in Mapleton, which consisted of areas previously in the Springville precinct (in the 11th district) as well as Spanish Fork (in the 12th district). As Mapleton had voted heavily for Robertson (42-15), Dougall sought to have those votes thrown out as being cast in the wrong district, arguing the court lacked authority to redistrict, which could only be done by Congress or the Commission itself. For the purpose of certifying the election, the Commission concluded that it lacked jurisdiction to go behind the results as counted.
When it convened, the House established a committee on elections to revisit the question. The committee sent a special commissioner to investigate, who determined that 25 of the Mapleton ballots had been cast by voters living in the 12th district. Rather than attempt to inquire how those residents had voted individually, the committee deducted votes from each candidate proportionally based on how the Mapleton precinct voted overall, thus deeming the final result to be Dougall 849, Robertson 840.