Ballots hit mailboxes Tuesday, Salt Lake County ballots two pages
Oct 14, 2024, 4:00 PM | Updated: 7:08 pm
SALT LAKE CITY — Ballots for the Nov. 5 election are hitting Utah mailboxes as soon as Tuesday. For Salt Lake County residents, ballots are quite long.
Salt Lake is the only county in Utah with a two-page ballot. Candidate races, bonds, and issues will take up both the front and back of both pages. The rest of Utah’s counties may see double-sided ballots, but none will have two pages.
“This is the first time in known history that Salt Lake County has had a two-card ballot,” said Salt Lake County Clerk Lannie Chapman.
She said very few races in the county this year went uncontested, leading to a lot of races on the ballot, along with all the other issues and constitutional amendments.
Chapman said she is worried voters won’t return both pages and encouraged voters to do that even if they don’t vote on the second page.
“I’m really going to encourage, even if you don’t want to vote on that second page, to please turn them both. It helps me make sure that I’m reconciling things properly,” she said.
If voters forget to include the second page, Chapman said they won’t be able to turn it in after the fact. In that case, only the page that gets turned in would count.
“There’s no mulligans, no do-overs. So take your time. If you want to vote both, and even if you don’t want to vote both, please make sure you put both cards back in that return envelope so that I can process it,” she said.
Here’s what SLCo ballots will look like
On the first page, the typical races for president, governor, senate, attorney general, and congressional districts will be listed. The list will also include local state legislative seats and local races, like county council.
On the back side are judicial retention elections, which Chapman said take up a lot of space.
The second page will include Salt Lake County’s countywide public safety bond and a proposal to reauthorize the Zoo, Arts, and Parks tax. In addition, several cities, such as Salt Lake Schools, Murray, and Cottonwood Heights, have their own bonds.
On the backside of that, all four constitutional amendments are listed. However, only votes on Amendments B and C will count as Amendments A and D were ruled void by Utah’s courts.
“I’m going to strongly encourage people to take their time. They should be getting their ballots very soon. Look at both sides and make sure that their voice is heard in our community,” Chapman said.
Utah has a robust ballot tracking system called Ballot Trax, which notifies the voter when the ballot is sent, received, and tabulated. Chapman encouraged every Utah voter to sign up for it.