New Weber County voting center allows for greater transparency, security

OGDEN — In the basement of the Weber County Center, there are voting booths, ballot boxes, and voting machines, all ready to welcome voters on Election Day.

The vote center and the ballot processing center used to be in separate rooms upstairs, but now they have it all in one central location in the basement of the building – a project that took about eight months.

Weber County Clerk Auditor Ricky Hatch says the main reason for the new space is safety.

“There’s been a lot of skepticism and some open hostility toward election workers,” Hatch said. “Some of our workers have received phone calls. And I just want them to feel safe. The way we’ve structured this – it provides more security for them.

He hopes this new layout will showcase their commitment to transparency. The facility includes glass windows so voters can see what is being done.

“We don’t want anyone to feel like there’s sneaky stuff happening in the back room,” Hatch said. “We want the ballots to be safe. We want the staff to be safe. And we want the voters to be safe.”

Aside from transparency and security, the facility also ensures everyone is able to vote. For example, it houses machines that allow those who are blind or visually impaired to listen to the ballot.

Hatch hopes the public will see the new facility — and offer feedback.

“We love to have people come in and observe the process. We want people to come in and ask the hard questions, to analyze the process, scrutinize it,” he said. “See if you can find holes because if you can, we want to plug them.”

For more information on tours of the new voting and ballot processing center, you can visit the Weber Elections website. Utah’s General Election will take place on Tuesday, Nov. 21