PROVO, Utah — Utahns who voted in-person Tuesday evening experienced major delays, and the rest of the state had to wait over two hours after the polls were closed to learn results.
Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson, who oversees the election process in Utah, previously announced that her office will not release any results until "the last voter in line has cast their ballot."
Then shortly before 6 p.m., she gave an update saying her office expects a delay of an hour or more before results are released due to long lines.
The first batch of numbers were released around 10:15 p.m.
One culprit of long lines was Utah County, where officials had to bring in extra ballots due to the high turnout.
"Voting by mail is good, but I think some people just want that experience of voting in person, so our in-person voting has greatly increased," said Utah County Clerk Aaron Davidson. "We had to deliver extra ballots out because more people are showing up than we had expected."
Then, as Utah County printed more ballots, the printers at some of their polling locations ran out of ink, according to the county clerk. Others ran out of registration forms and had to get more delivered from other locations.
Voters also experienced extremely long lines in Cache, Weber, Washington, and other counties. Henderson said some areas had wait times as long as two hours.
Weber County Clerk Ricky Hatch told FOX 13 News that voters started lining up at the fairgrounds at 6 a.m. Voters later in the day said although the wait was as long as two hours, it was smooth sailing. Hatch said it was never slow; they just did not expect the amount of voters who turned out.
"We anticipated about 6,000 voters. Looks like we probably got eight [thousand] or nine [thousand] in person," Hatch said. "Presidential elections always bring out a lot of people, and many times those people haven't voted in four years."
He was thankful that voters were civil and patient at the fairgrounds.
And with such a great turnout, many first-time voters were in attendance.
"Kind of exciting — excited to be a part of... everything for the first time," said first-time voter Ainsli Heap. " I feel like there will be a lot of people that are excited and a lot of people that are disappointed, just depends on who you voted for.
She was one of many who waited in a two-hour line. But voters told us it was an easy process, and many planned ahead for the long wait.
CLICK HERE to see real-time election results as they come in.
