Big turnout causes some kinks

High interest in Tuesday's election caused some kinks in the process.

• Utah County election officials improvised as polling places ran out of secrecy envelopes.

"We're actually folding a piece of white paper and putting it around the ballot," County Clerk Kim Jackson said. "We've had so many voters come out they've overwhelmed the supplies we have. We're scrambling."

Officials there also photocopied provisional ballots to bolster supplies, state elections director Amy Naccarato said. The demand could be traced to colleges' voter registration drives, in which out-of-state students may have put down home state addresses, then tried to vote in Utah.

• Carr Printing in Bountiful, the state's election supplier, filled requests for an additional 10,000 provisional ballots, which go to voters whose names aren't on rolls, company president Lloyd Carr said. He attributed demand to last-minute voter registration.

"That's happening all over the nation."

• Millard County election judges inspected voting machines after each use as people incorrectly marked booklets with stickers for county commission write-in candidates, County Clerk Norma Brunson said. Some voters also placed the stickers on the ballot instead of the secrecy envelope.

"(Voters) were doing what they thought they could. I don't know if it was malicious or not understanding," Brunson said. "We've been working through it to the best of our ability."

• Washington County Democrats complained poll watchers sported GOP party symbols and questioned whether only Republicans were allowed access to carbon copies of rolls to monitor who had cast votes.

"We're concerned about the integrity of the election when this sort of thing happens," said Kyle Pasley, southern Utah coordinator for Jim Matheson's 2nd Congressional District campaign.

Poll watchers were ordered to remove party symbols, which are illegal to display within 150 feet of a polling place, Naccarato said.

Any political party or group can dispatch poll watchers, who can access carbon copies of the roll, she said.

• Naccarato also took complaints about limited parking and campaign signs too close to polling places, and two Weber County voting machines that didn't include a punch hole for the Senate District 19 Democratic candidate. The machines were taken out of operation.

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Contributing: Nancy Perkins

E-mail: jtcook@desnews.com