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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah Elections Director Mark Thomas confirmed that initial state election results may be delayed in counties where long lines persist at polling places.
Thomas said his office is watching closely as long lines to vote persist in some areas, including Davis and Salt Lake counties, in case there is anyone still in line to vote when polls are scheduled to close at 8 p.m.
Anyone in line at 8 p.m. will be allowed to vote, Thomas said, but no results will be released for counties where voting is ongoing.
Salt Lake County Clerk Sherrie Swensen told KSL.com that results will "likely" be released as late as 9 p.m., if not later. Swensen suggested that voters who have mail-in ballots at home turn those in at their polling station and skip the line. If that doesn't work, locations with shorter lines include South Salt Lake, Midvale, the Sorenson Multicultural Center, and Wheeler Farm.
Swensen told KSL.com that polling places were equipped to handle expected turnout of registered voters. In Salt Lake County, vote centers have seen about 40,000 registered voters come through. But officials have been surprised by the "thousands" of provisional ballots cast by last-day registrations. That process of getting voter identification has slowed lines at some polling places.
In Salt Lake County, the first returns released will feature the approximately 250,000 ballots received in mail-in ballots prior to Monday, as well as the approximately 15,000 voters who went to one of the 17 early voting locations. The second round of returns will feature returns from voters who voted in person Tuesday, and will trickle in throughout the night as memory cards are uploaded to state servers.
Approximately 50,000 mail-in ballots were only received by Salt Lake County today, and won't be counted until signature verification occurs on each ballot. That means a significant number of vote results won't be released until Wednesday or Thursday, Swensen said.
Voters across the state were met with long lines to cast their ballots Tuesday. Election officials said Monday they were worried that hundreds of thousands of last-minute voters may jam up polling places on Election Day.
Weber County Elections Director Ryan Cowley said all nine of the county's polling places are expected to still have voters in line when the polls close at 8 p.m. The station with the longest line, the Weber Applied Technology College, likely won't get everyone through until 10 p.m. or 10:30 p.m.
About 10,000 people will cast ballots in person in Weber County, which is in line with projections, but logistical issues processing provisional ballots and dealing with voter registration information has bogged down the process, Cowley said.
Some initial results are still expected at 8 p.m. from counties where voting is complete, Thomas said. The rest will be released as each county finishes voting.
