SALT LAKE CITY — No major issues were reported as Utah voters visited polling locations on Election Day. Thousands of people filed into sites across the state to cast their votes during the important midterm elections.
Voting centers opened early Tuesday and remained open until 8 p.m. Those in line by 8 p.m. were allowed to vote no matter how long it took.
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Many locations reported steady arrivals of voters with very few lulls in traffic. In Saratoga Springs, there were about 30 people who had lined up outside a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints building to vote, and that continued throughout most of the day. The location even brought in additional equipment to meet demand.
"I know the county's kind of looked at possibly bringing us more, but right now we've we've kind of got it smooth and working," said polling technician Sheila Curtis. "I think it's grown the area, Eagle mountain, Saratoga Springs and some more people. We've got more people moving in and so provisional ballots. we have to register them."
So many people came to vote, Curtis said they ran of stickers.
Utah County Clerk Josh Daniels said additional check-in stations and ballot printers were brought out to other locations, like American Fork, to meet the demand. But he said there have not been any problems or complications at locations across the county.
A surge in voters is expected just before 6 p.m. as people head home from work. Daniels added that workers are marking sure voters won't have to wait in any lines that exceed a 45-minute wait.
In Salt Lake County, only about 38 percent of the county's 590,000 registered voters had cast their ballots before Election Day, which could have been long lines at voting centers. However, no issues or long waits were found.
Those who received a mail-in ballot can simply drop the filled-out ballot in a drop-box that's nearby.
Find a ballot drop box using the map:
It's a historic election for Salt Lake County Clerk Sherrie Swenson who is retiring later this year after more than three decades on the job.
FOX 13 Voter Guide for the 2022 Utah general election
Swensen calls it a bittersweet decision and wants to remind everyone out there who hasn’t voted yet to take part in the democratic process.
“With all the work and effort that goes into an election and all the work of all these wonderful people," she said, “We just want them to take the opportunity to vote and know that it’s important. And it does matter, that’s what democracy is, it’s the group of people that come together to make a decision and have the majority of the voices heard.”
