The first Tuesday in November is notorious for long lines to tap a few buttons, cast a vote, and possibly change the future course of our state. Depending on where you live, you may not be waiting in line to cast your vote in November. Several counties across Utah are doing it: mail-in ballots- for everyone, not just the absentee voters. This isn’t new, but several counties are trying it for the first time this year.
Brian Stephenson is the clerk for Beaver County, and says the county did a test run of the mail-in system during the June primaries, and they will be doing it again in November.
“We had a couple expectations going in. In the short-term, we hope to increase our voter turnout, which we got approximately 250 percent more voter participation than we would have traditionally expected during a party primary, and in the long term we hope to reduce costs quite substantially, based on the reduced number of pieces of equipment we’ll have to service and maintenance over the years,” he said.
Full Article: Utah Counties Switch To Mail-in Balloting System | UPR Utah Public Radio.