Fri. Nov 1st, 2024

Election worker Davina Trejo carries a box of ballots to her work station at the Salt Lake County Government Center in Salt Lake City as votes are cast in Utah’s primary election on Tuesday, June 25, 2024. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch)

Heading into the final weekend before Election Day, Utah’s voter turnout is still tracking well behind 2020’s record returns. 

As of Friday morning, Utah’s statewide voter turnout rested at 38.1%, according to Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson. In 2020, when there were four days left before the election, the state’s returns were at 54.1%. 

“Get out and vote!” Henderson posted on X, encouraging Utah voters not to wait to cast their ballots.

It’s not surprising that voter turnout rates are lagging behind 2020 patterns. The year of the COVID-19 pandemic saw unusually high, record-breaking voting returns, and election officials have said that year was an “anomaly” that will likely be hard to beat. 

Voter turnout is also typically higher during presidential election years, but in 2020 Utah’s voter turnout hit about 90%. This year, Utah is likely to see return rates hit somewhere in the 80% range, Shelly Jackson, the state’s deputy elections director, predicted. 

“I’d love to be wrong,” she said, but it “will be tough to surpass (2020).” 

Friday’s turnout, however, is tracking higher than Jackson originally expected. “I’m pleasantly surprised,” she said, though she’s warning county clerks to expect a big wave of ballots to be returned over the weekend. 

“We’ve said, you should ramp up” ballot counting in coming days, Jackson said, adding that some counties could see “double” the amount of ballots that have been returned thus far. “Monday will be busy.”

Some counties are tracking higher return rates than others (mostly rural counties where there are fewer voters overall). As of Friday, Grand County was in the lead, with 59.8% turnout. Wayne County had 59.4%, Piute County had 58.7%, and Garfield County had 56.1%. 

The county with the lowest turnout so far is Utah County (the state’s second most populated county), where Utah County Clerk Aaron Davidson, a Republican, has discouraged voting by mail in favor of using ballot drop boxes or in-person voting this year while expressing distrust in the U.S. Postal Service. 

Voters have until Monday, the day before Election Day, to mail their ballots — but Utah law requires them to be postmarked no later than Nov. 4, so to avoid any potential mail delays and to make sure their ballots are postmarked in time, voters can take their ballots directly to a post office.

Voters can also drop their by-mail ballots in drop boxes until 8 p.m. on Election Day — or vote in person at polling places on Election Day. 

For more information on how to vote, visit vote.utah.gov

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