Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
Richard Piatt Reporting A changing population means a change on voting day. A lot of people in Utah's fast-growing areas won't get to vote where they've cast a ballot for years.
This year there are a couple things that are new for election day. The first is computerized voting machines. Senior citizens--typically a reliable group turnout-wise--are getting a crash course ahead of time.
"Touch the square? Yes. And then the other one? Yes. And then the next screen. That's right."
Salt Lake County clerk Sherrie Swenson is personally talking to as many people as she can.
Sherrie Swenson, Salt Lake County Clerk: "I'm concerned about lines at the polling places because being new it's going to take longer for people to vote on it. They have to read instructions."
Gordon Hale, Learning About New Voting Machines: "I hope they have some people that can give people a rundown of how to do this, because otherwise it's going to be hard."
Not only are the voting machines new this year, a lot of people are getting notice that where they vote is different. Election staffer Rozan Mitchell helped evaluate 350 different polling places, dealing with a triple-whammy of changes: the new voting machines, growing population, and requirements by the new 'Help America Vote Act.'
Rozan Mitchell, Asst. Election Manager: "We did have to evaluate the number of voters and the new equipment that we would have to put in the polling place. "
The Help America Vote act has strict requirements about the number of parking places. A certain number of those parking places need to be wheelchair accessible. Walkways and doors have to be wide enough and hallways can't be too crowded.
A level is one of the pieces of equipment election officials had to use to find a polling place that would work. Wheelchair ramps have to be an 11 percent grade. It's a little harder to find that than you might think.
For all those reasons, there will be new things in off-year election day. Aas always, candidates are concerned about how those changes will affect turnout November 7th.
