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SALT LAKE CITY — The 2016 election is finally here. On Tuesday, Utahns — and Americans everywhere — will get their chance to decide everything from the next president to various local offices.
In Utah, the race for the governor, a Senate seat, all four House of Representative seats and much more is on the line.
There’s also the talk of history, both locally and nationally — especially in the presidential race. Could Utah vote blue for the first time since 1964? Could Utah go yellow for the first time ever? Could America elect its first female president?
Utah has six electoral votes and could easily be passed up in relation to other states in the country. However, it also has been a place full of election history and potential history.
Here are some of the presidential race and other election facts you may not have known.
Utah has voted red since 1968, but once voted blue often
Utah has voted for the Republican candidate in 12-straight presidential elections and it appears Donald Trump is slowly regaining control of Utah and its six electoral votes, according to Monmouth University and Rasmussen polls released Thursday.
It has been brought up often throughout this election that Utah has never strayed away from voting Republican since the 1968 election, and hadn’t voted otherwise since Utah’s electoral votes went toward Democrat incumbent Lyndon B. Johnson over Republican candidate Barry Goldwater in 1964.
But prior to that, Utah voting for the Democratic candidate wasn’t all too unfamiliar.
From 1932 to 1948, Utah voted blue in five straight presidential elections. In fact, Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt won Utah in all four of his presidential runs.
Utah also voted for Harry S. Truman in 1948. Truman had assumed office when Roosevelt died in 1945.
Utah also voted Democrat two times before that. In 1916, during Woodrow Wilson’s reelection run, and in 1896 — its first election as a state — Utah sided with Democrat William Jenning Bryan over eventual presidential winner William McKinley.
In all, Utah was split 50-50 for the first 14 presidential elections of its statehood: seven elections for the Republican Party and seven for the Democratic Party.
The last time a state went yellow
But wait, could Evan McMullin win Utah as a third-party candidate? Yes, that’s not out of the realm of possibility.
The recent polls have Trump out in front, but McMullin wasn’t completely out of the mix in those same polls. And, if McMullin were to take Utah, he’d become the first third-party presidential candidate to win a state in 48 years.
In 1968, American Independent candidate George Wallace won five states (Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi) over Republican candidate Richard Nixon and Democratic candidate Hubert Humphrey.
In 1992, Independent candidate Ross Perot didn’t win a state, but corralled nearly 20 million votes. He also picked up 8 million votes in 1996.
It’s an uphill battle, but history could be made if McMullin were to win Utah.
Utah allowed women to vote well before many of the other states, but lost that right once
On a historic note of the election, Hillary Clinton could become the first female president in U.S. history. That comes 96 years after the 19th amendment, which allowed women the right to vote, was passed in 1920.
However, women in Utah could already vote well before the amendment’s passage.
Utah allowed women to vote in 1870, when it was a territory — the second territory to allow women to vote behind Wyoming in 1869. That right was revoked by Congress briefly from 1887 to 1895 in a response to rid Utah of polygamy.
In 1889, during that ban, Emily S. Richards formed a branch of the National Woman Suffrage Association in Utah. After the 1894 Enabling Act made Utah’s statehood likely, the push to regain suffrage surged. At one point, 19 of 27 counties had suffrage organizations, according to the Utah History Encyclopedia.
In 1895, supporters of the movement were able to regain the right to vote when a new Utah Constitution was passed.
When Utah became a state in 1896, it joined Idaho in becoming just the third and fourth states to allow women to vote. Only Wyoming (1890) and Colorado (1893) had allowed women the right prior to that.
In all, 15 states allowed women the full right to vote prior to the amendment, 12 others allowed women to vote for president.
14-straight presidents have visited Utah
Every president since Herbert Hoover has visited Utah at least once. In April 2015, Barack Obama extended the streak to 14-straight visits.
However, Ulysses S. Grant, U.S.'s 18th president, was the first president to visit Utah. Granted Utah hadn’t become a territory until September 1850, when Millard Fillmore, the 13th president, was in office. In October 1875, Grant met with Brigham Young after spending a night at the Walker House Hotel in Salt Lake City.
It’s almost certain either Trump or Clinton will win the 2016 election and both visited Utah during their campaigns. Trump held a rally at the Infinity Event Center in March before he had secured the Republican bid. In August 2015, Clinton held a fundraiser in Park City for her 2016 run.
Other 2016 candidates, such as Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson and Independent candidate Evan McMullin, have their headquarters in Salt Lake City.
