With several big races up for grabs, Utah voters head to the polls

SOUTH SALT LAKE —  The voting polls are now open. 

This year’s election came two weeks later than normal as part of the special election to replace former Congressman Chris Stewart who stepped down on Sept. 15. 

Utah Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson stopped by the Granite Library polling place in South Salt Lake.

She said this election is historical in its timing as it is later than usual and coming the week of Thanksgiving.

And voters were up up bright and early to cast their ballot.

“Just came by to drop off a ballot,” said Matt Robertson. “Dropped off mine and my wife’s. I had one kind of, like, panic moment in the beginning of the month thinking we need to get these in.”

Plenty of time to vote on Election Day

There’s no need to worry though, as there is still time to make ballots count the day of Election Day. 

“If you haven’t registered to vote yet, you can actually go to an in-person polling in your county and register to vote and vote with a provisional ballot,” Henderson said.

There is a lot of attention on several other big races, including Salt Lake City’s mayoral race, which is one of many across the state.

Henderson said casting a vote is an important matter for people.

“Show up and make sure that your voice is heard. Especially in these municipal elections, very few people actually end up voting, and so your vote will actually have a pretty big impact,” Henderson said.

It doesn’t take long

The process moves quickly, according to Robertson. 

“It took us – once we did it – it took literally, like, seven minutes to do the whole thing, including, like, looking up everybody’s website and going through all the stuff,” Robertson said. “There’s not all that many people on the ballot for this one, so it really wasn’t that lengthy of a process.” 

Granite Library’s South Salt Lake Poll Manager, Sharon Cameron, said there are multiple steps to ensure check every vote is counted and handled correctly. 

“We do everything as a team, so usually one person is reading off numbers, checking numbers,” Cameron said. “The other person is writing them, repeat ‘em back. Every door is sealed. The printer is sealed.”

If unsure whether you are registered to vote or not, you can check on Utah’s voting site. 

 As long as you are in line Tuesday evening by 8 p.m., you can still vote, just make sure you bring the proper identification.