SALT LAKE CITY — It was a bigger crowd than expected, which pleasantly surprised Salt Lake County Clerk Lannie Chapman.
People filed into a room in the basement of the Salt Lake County government complex to watch Chapman's office conduct a "logic and accuracy" test of voting equipment. Election workers handed out ballots for the crowd to fill out and they could check the results for themselves to determine if the tabulation machines were accurate.
Such tests are required by law, but also ensure the clerk's office is ready for the June primary election. Inviting the public to come and see how it's done is also something that county clerks across Utah and Lt. Governor Deidre Henderson have pushed for to dispel disinformation and myths about elections and inspire confidence.
"It’s something we really encourage. We want the public to come and test it," Chapman told FOX 13 News. "We want the public to come and test out what we’re using, our equipment, our ballots, to make sure it’s running as it should be."
On Friday, a number of people including candidates for office and political party officials observed the testing. A representative from the Lt. Governor's Office was also in the room.
"I got the email about the counting process, and I wanted to be a part of that and see how it goes," said Stephen George Cassity, a candidate for school board in the Jordan School District.
Cassity filled out a ballot and inspected the results.
"From what I see? It looks pretty good. It looks pretty, pretty accurate," he said afterward.
Rachelle Morris, a Republican candidate for the Salt Lake County Council at-large seat, said she does hear from voters who have questions about election integrity.
"There will be well over 100,000 Republican primary voters. I wanted to come here, experience it firsthand and understand the processes and procedures that will be going on over the next several weeks," she told FOX 13 News.
Asked if she was satisfied with what she saw, Morris replied: "Very satisfied, yes. Everything matched up as we anticipated. So of course, as a candidate, that was great to see and experience firsthand."
Salt Lake County Republican Party Chair Chris Null said public tests like these do help instill confidence. He has participated in them regularly and attended with other party officers, who can report back to their members.
"I think it does help in that when we're able to come and say 'Look, we watched how it happened, we watched how the sausage was made and we’re comfortable with the outcome.' That’s what we want. That’s our goal," Null said.
Null said he also encourages people to sign up to help out in the elections process. The Salt Lake County GOP signed up volunteers to be poll watchers (the Democratic party has done similar).
"We're always in need of poll workers on Election Day," Chapman said. "In-person and early voting, of course, but also down here for all of our by-mail ballots."
With the primary election coming up, ballots will be mailed out starting June 4. Under Utah law, the deadline has already passed for a voter who is affiliated with one political party to switch to another. However, voters who are currently unaffiliated (meaning they belong to no political party) can still join a party before the primary on June 25.
