New law allows you to vote 2 weeks before election day

Voters worried about finding a spare moment on Election Day were among some of the first to try out the new electronic voting machines Tuesday.

Because of a change made by the Legislature this year, voters can cast a regular ballot two weeks before the formal election day. Previously, voters who wanted to vote early had to use an absentee ballot.

As expected, only a few voters took advantage of early voting the first day, although in Salt Lake County a voter seemed to arrive at the clerk's office approximately every five minutes. Some of those, such as Tracy and Stephanie Monson, have always voted absentee, so the early voting was more of a habit. Still, they both liked the new ATM-style machines, especially the fact that they could verify their vote on a paper receipt.

"It's a lot better than any punch ballot," Tracy said. "It's easy to use, it's straightforward, and because there's a printout, you know there's a record."

Other voters came because of other business at the county offices, such as Nancy Johnson, who spent the morning training as a poll worker on the new machines. Ironically, she actually voted on a paper absentee ballot because of a change in her precinct number, but she said that her training on the machines gave her confidence that they would work.

"You can't cheat, you can't steal — the machines are smarter than we are," she said. "The whole thing is really exciting."

Nearly 100 Utah County voters cast their ballots on the first day of early voting, which was more than elections coordinator Sandy Hoffmann expected.

"We had a pretty steady trickle of voters," Hoffmann said.

Five machines were set up in the Utah County Administration Building, the county's lone site for early voting for the primary election.

Voters described the process as easy, fun and convenient, with no one waiting more than about two minutes, she said.

Few complained about the changes, Hoffmann said, though she said one woman felt a lack of privacy while making her selections on the touch-screen machines without a curtained voting booth.

When the woman told Hoffmann of her concern, another voter was making her choices on the same machine.

"I said, 'Look behind me on the machine you just left. Can you see that screen?' And she said, 'No,' " Hoffmann said. "You do have that privacy. . . . You may think that everybody can see your votes, but they can't."