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SALT LAKE CITY – The Salt Lake County Clerk has been getting a lot of questions from unaffiliated voters about how to cast their ballot in Utah’s presidential primary on Super Tuesday.
Voters in the Beehive State have a chance to make a difference in the primary election on March 3, especially on the Democratic side.
When is Super Tuesday 2020?
Those who plan to vote in person on Tuesday, March 3, should be prepared to stand in line. The system has been streamlined for voting by mail to make it easier. Confusion in how the primary works, however, may bring a lot of people out to the polls.
“We’re trying to get people to utilize that vote by mail system,” said Salt Lake County Clerk Sherrie Swensen.
Here’s how voting for the primary works:
Utah’s Republican primary is closed. Only registered Republicans can vote. Those voters already received their ballots.
The Democratic primary is open to any voter. You do not need to register as a Democrat to vote in their primary.
Letters were sent out in January to the many unaffiliated voters in the state. The letter explained how to request either a Republican or Democratic ballot for the election.
“When we sent that letter out, we got a lot of calls, ‘Why are you sending this? What does this mean?’” said Swensen. “For those to whom we didn’t send a ballot automatically, they are a little bit concerned or confused about why they didn’t get a ballot.”
Information from the Salt Lake County Clerk’s office:
Those who didn’t respond can still contact the county clerk’s office by email or phone, and ask for a ballot to be mailed out. The deadline to request the ballot was set for Tuesday, February 25.
“For those people who really want to participate in this primary, we really want them, for the Democrats, to order a ballot so we can mail it to them,” said Swensen.
If everyone waits until Super Tuesday to show up at the limited number of voting centers, Swensen said those locations will be overwhelmed.
The Salt Lake County Clerk’s website answers nearly every question you may have regardless of where you vote. You can also check the county clerk’s website wherever you live. Find that information at vote.utah.gov.
