As of Friday, voter turnout in Salt Lake City for the general election was 34 percent—already 7 percent higher than the primary turnout.
Salt Lake City Recorder Cindy Mansell says a tight Salt Lake City mayor’s race on top of the new vote-by-mail option will likely double voter participation.
“I’m optimistic but I’m hoping for like 60 percent which will be unprecedented,” Mansell says.
This is the first year Salt Lake City has done an election using vote-by-mail. Every registered voter in Salt Lake City was mailed a ballot. Voters can also stop by a voting center on Election Day.
Mansell says the city has run into a few problems, but the new process has mostly gone smoothly. During the Primary Election in August, she says many voters didn’t sign the affidavit on the return envelope, so their votes didn’t get counted.
“And it seems to be that the same thing is occurring with the general election,” Mansell says. “So we need to do some education in that realm, making sure voters know they need to sign the return envelope”
Voters will need to postmark their ballots by November 2 or they can drop them off at a designated drop-off locations.
Both same-day registration and in-person voting will be held at four designated Vote Centers on Election Day November 3.
