Both Cannon and Ivory are members of the Deseret Morning News' board of directors. But they had nothing to do with the newspaper editors' decision to conduct Thursday's poll and had no say in the wording of the questions asked. Ivory has taken a leave of absence from the board and will resign his board position should he win the race.

While Workman remains the official nominee of the Republican Party, Cannon said Ivory — a well-known Republican who in the 1970s served as the party's national committeeman — will have all of the support and access to GOP voting lists and turn-out-the-vote efforts the party can provide.

Jones also asked Thursday night whether Workman should continue her campaign or step down as a candidate.

Jones found that 67 percent want her to step down, 21 percent want her to continue and 9 percent didn't know.

Those numbers are similar to the results of the poll Jones took a week ago before Ivory got in the race. Oddly enough, in both surveys there were people who wanted Workman to continue her race but who then said they would not be voting for her.

Ivory's 32-percent showing in the new poll is impressive, said Jones, who has polled in Utah for 30 years. It's questionable, however, whether a write-in candidate can actually attract such support at the polls, he added.

"Opinion (as measured in a poll) does not always lead to behavior," said Jones, who also teaches political science at the University of Utah.

"That is especially true in a write-in campaign," Jones added. But Ivory's strong showing in the new poll "could be a possibility" of actual voting results "if his supporters follow instructions on how to cast a write-in ballot."

Under Utah law, voters must place Ivory's name on the envelope that covers their ballot punch-card.

Ivory has already said his campaign will provide stickers with his name on it to potential voters. But, also following law, those stickers cannot be given out at the polling places or within 150 feet of polling places. Voters will have to take the stickers with them to voting places or just write Ivory's name on the ballot envelope.

To the best of anyone's knowledge, in recent history no write-in candidate has won a major race in Utah.

Ivory says he will fund his campaign himself, spending an estimated $400,000. One of his campaign aides said early discussions include Ivory mailing possible supporters stickers a day or so before the Nov. 2 elections — a mailing that could top 300,000 county voters.

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E-mail: bbjr@desnews.com