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SALT LAKE CITY — Election officials at the Salt Lake County Clerk's Office said they're working incredibly long hours as early voter turnout climbs to an all-time high. Will that have any impact on the way many of us vote, lines on Election Day or how long we will have to wait to know who won?
Mail-in ballots are already being sorted, opened and counted. We won't know voters' choices for another week but one thing we know right now: election officials are busy.
"It's a lot more than we've seen in years past," said Lannie Chapman, the office's chief deputy clerk. "People are really enthused this year. There's a lot of turnout — early turnout — which is amazing."
It's not anecdotal to Salt Lake County.
According to state records, there are "over 200,000 more voters on our rolls compared to 2018." Just two years ago.
Both Chapman and her boss, Salt Lake County Clerk Sherrie Swensen, tell the KSL Investigators that they have been working into the wee hours of the morning ever since ballots went out — helping to get voters registered, getting them off of inactive voter rolls and answering questions.
Some elections officials have put in 16-hour-plus days, and that is with Election Day still more than a week away.
So, are they worried they'll be swamped on election night?
"The amount of people that have already turned in their ballots makes me feel confident that a lot of people will vote before Nov. 3," said Chapman.
Related:
'Very encouraging': 407K mail-in ballots already processed in Utah
Utah is on track to have a large batch of results ready to be released at 8 p.m. on Election Day because so many voters are returning their ballots early.All the interest in the 2020 vote could still mean lines on Election Day.
One thing that officials have stressed — you can help keep lines short by voting on your mail-in ballot. If you don't trust putting it in your mailbox, you can bring it to an official dropbox.
Elections officials are not anticipating problems in Utah, and certainly nobody wants any problems. Still, sometimes problems happen.
If you see something in the next couple of weeks or on Election Day that doesn't seem quite right, you've got an advocate in the KSL Investigators. You can report voting issues at the KSL Investigates Vote Watch form at KSLTV.com or by calling/texting 385-707-6153.
2020 Election
Increased mail-in voting, COVID-19, and a variety of state-by-state election formats contribute to a unique 2020 election. As a result, it is likely that many close House and Senate races, as well as the presidency, will not be called on Nov. 3.
States may also shift in outcome in the days or weeks following the election — an expected change experts have warned about as results are returned. While human error happens, both mail-in and in-person voting have extremely low rates of fraud.
The state of Utah has used vote-by-mail since 2012. It has safeguards in place to make sure every ballot it receives is legitimate.
