Haven't voted yet? Here's what you need to know

SALT LAKE CITY — Election Day is on Tuesday, and statewide voter turnout hovered at just around 27% as of Monday.

Ryan Cowley, elections director, said turnout is expected to jump considerably before polls close at 8 p.m. Tuesday as more people turn in ballots or vote in person.

"You can still return your ballot. Don't mail it. It's too late to do that," said Cowley. "Take it to a drop box or your county clerk's office."

Ballots can be turned in until 8 p.m. Tuesday, or voters can go to the polls in person until that time.

"Just make sure you take your ID with you," Cowley said. "To find your ballot box locations or polling place, go to vote.utah.gov."

Cowley said things have been going pretty smoothly so far, except for challenges posed by flooding in southeastern Utah.

"We've been working really hard with the county clerks down there, particularly in San Juan County," he said. "They will have their polling places open tomorrow. The drop boxes are open. It is a challenge for some people to get to those, but we are working hard with them."

The U.S. Department of Justice is sending election monitors to Utah and to other states. Cowley said 12 monitors will be in the state, in Salt Lake County only. He said those monitors cannot be armed or approach voters, but they can "come in and watch the process" like anyone else.

"They're allowed to basically be like a poll watcher, in our terms, but they aren't allowed to interfere with the election, anything like that," Cowley said.

One of the reasons Utah's voter turnout has been fairly lackluster so far is likely due to the absence of high-profile contests, like governor or U.S. Senate, Cowley said.

There are four congressional races and two constitutional amendments on the ballot this year, along with judicial retention and countywide elections.

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