Utah County voters flock to cast their ballots on Election Day | News, sports, jobs

Curtis Booker, Daily Herald

On a wet and chilly Election Day, voters in Utah County head to the polls to make their voices heard.

On Tuesday morning, Lieutenant Governor Deidre Henderson released her post, saying voter turnout in Utah County was 43.8% – the lowest of any county in the state.

However, many Utah County residents chose to vote in person.

“So it looked like we had an early turnout last night where everything was around 43%. But today all of our locations are just flooded with people wanting to vote in person,” county clerk Aaron Davidson told the Daily Herald when he arrived early Tuesday afternoon.

Long lines of voters were observed in places like Lehi at the Public Safety Building and the Health and Justice Building in Provo.

Curtis Booker, Daily Herald

Davidson claimed that poll workers were running out of voter ballots in some locations throughout the county.

“I’m actually in the process of delivering more ballots to our various voting locations,” he said.

In a Tuesday night post on The Tribune also reported that election operations in Utah County were being monitored by state officials after discrepancies were discovered following this year's primary election results.

The additional review comes at a contentious time for the county clerk's office.

Last week, Davidson publicly disclosed that he had been tracking how officials cast their votes, telling the Deseret News that Sen. Mike McKell, R-Spanish Fork, did not put a stamp on his ballot in the last election.

Utah County Commissioner Amelia Powers Gardner called the actions “voter intimidation” and called on Davidson to step down from overseeing the election. Jeff Gray, the Utah County attorney, told the Deseret News last week that his office is investigating Davidson's actions.

Gray confirmed to the Daily Herald on Tuesday that he was still reviewing the complaints but had no updates and estimated it would take “at least” a month for his office to receive concrete answers.

“I have to look at the law, examine the facts and determine whether or not there is a possible investigation,” he said.

Gray added that he may refer the investigation to another agency at some point due to a possible conflict of interest.

Early voter turnout included about 170,000 people who voted by mail or drop box and 6,500 people who voted early in person, according to Kristen Swensen, elections director for the Utah County Elections Division.

As of midday Tuesday, 7,000 in-person ballots had been cast on Election Day — a number that Swensen predicted would triple by the end of the day.

“Our equipment works really well. Just those few little first things in the morning, bumps in the road that you always have, and we're just processing the voters,” she said. “So we have some locations that aren't as busy as others, and then there are some that are just starting to get going. Saratoga Springs is probably one of the busiest.”

With many sensitive issues on the ballot in Utah County, such as the fate of the Alpine School District, the election of a new county commissioner and a variety of seats in the Utah House of Representatives and Senate, it may take several days for most results to be considered official apply.

“We're probably anticipating between 60,000 and 80,000 ballots coming through the mailboxes today alone,” Davidson said, with hours still to go before polls close.