Utah voting turnout around 68 percent

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- The lieutenant governor's office says preliminary numbers show 68 percent of Utah voters cast ballots in Tuesday's election.

The office says more than 883,600 voters either went to the polling places on Tuesday or voted early or absentee. Elections officials expect the numbers to change, however, once provisional ballots and additional absentee ballots are counted.

The office said before Election Day that it expected turnout of between 75 percent and 85 percent. Turnout for the 2004 presidential election was 74 percent.

This year, record numbers of voters cast their ballots early. The state passed the previous record of 70,000, set in 2006 when early voting was offered for the first time in Utah, just 2 1/2 days into this year's early voting period.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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