SALT LAKE COUNTY, Utah -- Over 531,000 Utahan’s have cast their ballots for Tuesday’s midterm election, which is more than election officials have seen in years. They say that 44 percent of people in Utah have cast a ballot.
Justin Lee, Director of Elections in the Lt. Governor’s Office tells Fox13 that with this number so far, we are on track to make history.
“The turnout is big, particularly for a midterm election. In 2014 our last midterm, we had 46.25 percent. We’re already a day before the election at 44 percent turnout so we’re definitely going to break some records,” Lee said.
According to a tweet sent out Monday by Todd Weiler, Utah State Senator, early voting is up 159 percent from 2014; Democrats are up 278 percent and unaffiliated voters are up 175 percent. Third parties are up 611 percent over 2014.
Officials believe this turnout is being driven by the ballot initiatives and the national divide between political parties.
“We really don’t have a baseline for exactly what’s normal right now. I’ve never had this many counties voting by mail, we never had this many ballot propositions on the ballot, so I don’t know what tomorrow looks like,” Lee said.
With still one day until election day, Lee said that he’s excited and happy to see how many people are using their right to vote to try and make a difference.
“We definitely want to be seeing people involved, engaged, out there voting,” Lee said.
