SALT LAKE CITY — Elections officials' work was in full swing Monday as they sorted, verified and tabulated thousands of by-mail ballots the post office received that morning.

They'll work all day in preparation for Tuesday's primary election, said Rozan Mitchell, Salt Lake County elections director. Eight cities in Salt Lake County are holding primary elections, along with 10 in Utah County and eight in Davis County.

"It will be a busy day. We've had a good stream of traffic this morning," Mitchell said. "We get excited when we hear how many ballots we're getting back in the mail."

As of Monday afternoon — the final day voters can postmark their ballots — the Salt Lake County Clerk's Office received nearly 5,000 by-mail ballots, bringing the county's ballot return rate from 19 percent on Friday to 22.5 percent. That's nearly 33,000 of the 117,000 sent out county voters' mailboxes last month.

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Vote-by-mail ballots for municipal elections are trickling back to county clerks, but there are still thousands lingering at voters' fingertips.

Salt Lake City has the highest turnout so far. It reached nearly 32 percent Monday afternoon, Mitchell said.

Davis County's by-mail turnout jumped from 19 percent to 23 percent on Monday after more than 9,000 ballots flooded in over the weekend, said Brian McKenzie, election manager. Utah County officials had yet counted vote-by-mail ballots as of Monday.

"We're excited with what we're seeing," McKenzie said.

He and Mitchell both said the vote-by-mail return rates have already surpassed voter turnout in comparable election years.

However, McKenzie said, voters can still do better. Compared with general election years, municipal elections are notorious for low voter turnout despite their close-to-home impact.

"When we're voting for city councils, these are the people that have the most direct and immediate impact on our everyday lives," he said. "These are the elections that truly matter, and your vote makes an amazing difference."

Mitchell said she expects turnout to climb throughout Tuesday as polling centers open from 7 a.m. until 8 p.m.

Although traditional polling places will not be available in vote-by-mail cities, Mitchell said voters wishing to cast their ballots in person can still go voting centers.

Every city has at least one voting center. A list of locations can be found on the county's elections website.

If voters failed to postmark their ballots by Monday, mail-in ballots can also be dropped off at those polling centers.

"It's important to get out there and get engaged," Mitchell said.

Preliminary results will be posted online at 8 p.m. Those results will be updated between 9 p.m. and midnight after election officials tally votes from the polling centers and remaining vote-by-mail ballots.

Results won't be final for at least a week later in Salt Lake County, and potentially two weeks later in Davis County, after cities complete canvassing.

State law prohibits publicly updating vote tallies between election night and the city councils' official vote canvasses, which must be held between seven and 14 days after the election.

Because most of Utah's largest cities switched to vote-by-mail this year, it's a possibility that many ballots could end up in clerks' hands days after the election, Mitchell said.

Salt Lake County Clerk Sherrie Swensen said preliminary and official results typically don't vary unless it's a close race, so she expects voters should have a fair idea Tuesday about which candidates will advance to the general election in November.

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