OGDEN, Utah — As the hours countdown to the polls closing in Utah, people have been heading out to the ballot boxes to make their voices heard. But in one county, a few bumps in the road caused some Election Day confusion.
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On Tuesday, many noticed that Google was showing an incorrect address for a voting location in Weber County. Both Will Broccolo and Shawn Smith wanted to vote in person, so they did a Google search of where their polling location would be.
“On the website, they actually put the wrong address, so we went all the way from 24th Street in Ogden, all the way out here. But we made it, that’s what counts,” said Broccolo.
Weber County election officials said the Google address was a mistake they made, but didn’t mean for it to happen. At first, they immediately got the word out by posting to social media, but hours later, they ended up creating a voting location at the site.
“There are a thousand things that could go wrong with an election and this as one of them," said Weber County Clerk Ricky Hatch. "This was the programing that we did months in advance to enter in the locations into our state database, and we simply didn’t switch the early vote location with the same day voting one.”
The location in question was the Weber Center in Ogden where the county offices are located. While used for early voting, the center was not scheduled to be a location on Election Day. So when people started arriving to vote, officials put up signs directing voters to the right location at the fairgrounds.
“Meh, just got to drive a little further. It’s worth it, kind of annoying, but it’s whatever," said Broccolo. "We just wanted to get our stickers!”
Besides the hiccup, voters throughout the day said it was a pretty straightforward process.
“I think it’s important to show up just so you don’t have any kind of issues with fraud and stuff," explained Obadiah Luna, who was voting for the first time in Utah.
Hatch says turnout has been slightly less than what officials had hoped for. Of the 127,000 registered voters in the county, about 65,000 had returned their ballots before polls opened in the morning.
“Definitely slower than 2020, as you would expect. Little slower than 2018 to be honest, which is a little disappointing," said Hatch. "2018 was a big turnout year as well with lots of items on the ballot. "So I’d say we’re lagging a little bit behind. I'm guessing about 70-75 percent turnout today.”
But however people chose to vote, Broccolo said it was important to make sure their voices were heard.
“It’s important to vote right now. I mean it really matters to our democracy and to the policies that we believe in. And if you don’t vote for it, then it’s not going to change anything. Don’t complain unless you vote.”
