State happy with early voter turnout

AMERICAN FORK — An estimated 10 percent of registered voters have cast their ballots in the state's first year of early voting.

As of Thursday, the state has reported 50,000 votes have been cast.

"As we look at other states that have implemented early voting, this is higher than any other state in terms of percentage, this far, at their first go-around with early voting," said Joe Demma, chief of staff for the state elections office under the direction of Lt. Gov. Gary Herbert. "We're extremely pleased."

Another first to this year's election is the use of electronic voting machines. But a few American Fork voters will get to cast a paper ballot in addition to the electronic ballot in the voting booth next week.

Election chiefs say some 2,840 registered voters will be asked to identify their property on a county map before they're pointed to the polling booths in Pleasant Grove precincts 1, 5, and 15.

That's because at least four properties were annexed from Pleasant Grove into American Fork over the last few years, skewing county election boundaries and sending a handful of American Fork residents to vote in Pleasant Grove.

But Pleasant Grove's ballot won't have American Fork's proposed $46.95 million water irrigation bond on it.

Instead, the few American Fork folks who turn up in Pleasant Grove on Tuesday will be supplemented with paper ballots with which they can vote for or against the bond proposal.

Those few voters will also use the electronic system for countywide issues.

"I don't see any problem with that," Demma said. "As long as people who want to vote get to vote, that's all we care about."

Demma said the situation in American Fork and Pleasant Grove is the only one he's aware of that will impact use of electronic voting machines across the state.

Some voters who live in Pleasant Grove precincts 1, 5, or 15 may also have already voted and it's possible that the American Fork residents voting in Pleasant Grove have slipped through the cracks, said Utah County elections coordinator Sandy Hoffmann.

But since Hoffman has not so far been able to find anyone involved with the American Fork annexations who is actually registered to vote or who voted in the municipal elections last year, she says she's not too worried about early voters having a negative impact on the bond election.