Davis County voters were more informed and engaged during this mid-term election than in past years according to one Davis County Election Official.
Davis County finalized its midterm election results on Tuesday, while most Utah counties won’t complete their final canvas until later this month. Forty-eight percent of registered Davis County voters participated this year and the majority used mail-in ballots, which is a new option. Brian McKenzie is the Davis County Elections Manager. He says while voter turnout was actually a bit lower than the previous mid-term election, people spent more time on the issues.
“Often times we have voters go to the polling locations, they cast their ballot then they come back and tell the poll worker I had no idea that we were voting on a constitutional amendment,” McKenzie says. “I had no idea about all of these judges that were on my ballot. A number of voters contacted us and said how wonderful it was for them to take their ballot, sit down in front of their computer, research the candidates and issues and mark their choices.”
McKenzie says vote-by-mail allowed the county to tabulate results much faster.
“Now however, this election, because we had longer lines at the polling locations, than what we had anticipated, we actually held on to those results a little bit longer, to provide an opportunity for those voters to get in and cast their ballots before any results were released,” McKenzie says.
More than three-quarters of those who voted in Davis County cast a straight party ticket for Republican candidates.
State-wide election results will be finalized a week from Tuesday.
Correction:
We reported more than three-quarters or 77 percent of Davis County voters, cast a straight- party ticket for the Republican Party.
It should say of those who voted a straight-party ticket, 77 percent voted Republican.
