State leaders address election problems
Nov 6, 2024, 1:26 PM | Updated: 1:38 pm
SALT LAKE CITY — After a long Election Day, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox and Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson spoke with the media Wednesday morning about concerns in the election process that certain counties faced.
Across the state, there was steady voter turnout. Some polling locations navigated long lines for voters to cast their ballots.
In Utah County, voters also saw long lines.
In the mix, though, the lieutenant governor said there were extra hiccups due to unpreparedness.
“They had some challenges. Challenges that could have been mitigated. There was some lack of planning on the part of the clerk that I think you know caused some problems that were unnecessary,” Henderson said.
Some of those problems included the printers.
Of the 13 voting locations in Utah County, roughly six of those were having printer problems.
Running out of paper
By midmorning Tuesday, Henderson said she was told the Utah County Clerk had 10,000 ballots they could use and burned through about half.
Henderson confirmed a state plane was sent to Arizona to pick up paper in case Utah County ran out.
The paper was ultimately not needed.
It is unclear how the $4,000 for the plane expense will be paid.
Meanwhile, thousands of emergency ballots had to be printed and then election workers were sent to deliver those ballots.
“Ultimately, each county clerk is responsible for figuring out what voting should look like in their counties,” Henderson said.
Utah County Clerk Aaron Davidson responded to the mishaps Tuesday night.
“I take full responsibility for not spending a lot of money for preparing for something that we didn’t know it was going to be this big,” he said. “I wasn’t prepared but we were prepared based on the information that we had.”
White powder
In Salt Lake County, Henderson said one incident at the voting polls popped up where quite a “sufficient amount” of white powder was put into an envelope.
That powder turned out not to be malicious.
The incident is under investigation.
