Utah News Dispatch
Utah’s local primary elections are coming soon and, with new laws, have tight deadlines
Ballots await processing at the Davis County Administrative Building in Farmington on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch)
This month most counties in Utah will oversee primary elections for local offices ahead of the Nov. 4 general election. With a portion of a new election law now effective, clerks will have less time to receive mail-in ballots. But, those planning to vote in advance can still cast their votes in various methods.
Every county — except for Daggett, Grand, Morgan, Piute, Rich and Uintah — have at least one primary race for mayors offices and city councils happening on Aug. 12, according to the Utah Lt. Governor’s Office. Utah County residents are also electing candidates for school board.
SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
“A lot of these people that we’re electing at the local level are making decisions on things like roads, parks, schools in some cases, and zoning, and permits, and libraries, and police and fire, and setting your tax rates and fees,” Cambria Cantrell, elections coordinator at the lieutenant governor’s office said. “So local elections matter as much as, if not, sometimes more than any other.”
The deadline to register to receive a by-mail ballot has passed. However, voters can still send in their ballots by mail. Unlike other elections, there isn’t a specific last day to postmark a ballot, but Cantrell warns, voters should send them in as soon as possible.
That’s because a phase of HB300, an election law the Utah Legislature passed this year, now requires clerks to receive any votes sent by mail by 8 p.m. on election night.
“We are encouraging people, if they plan to mail their ballot, to do it early, just to allow plenty of time for it to get through the Postal Service system,” Cantrell said.
Dropboxes in every city across the state are also a good option to submit the ballots that may not make it on time in the mail.
This is also the first election under HB69, a 2025 law banning clerks from accessing and disclosing voter records for personal purposes.
Utahns may also notice a change in their ballot envelope design. Utah County and other jurisdictions that hadn’t made the change yet implemented privacy tabs to cover personal information so that only elections officials are able to see it.
In another change, while it isn’t required yet, some counties started adding a spot where voters can provide the last four digits of their social security or driver’s license numbers for verification, a phase of HB300 that will officially become effective statewide in 2029.
Voters who are registered to vote but haven’t received their ballots in their mail have until Tuesday, Aug. 5, to request one, Cantrell said. The deadline for voters using the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act is Aug. 11.
Same-day registration is also available for those voting in person. Voters may visit the state’s election website to read more about the candidates running for public office in their cities. Early voting times vary depending on the county.
Municipal primaries like these are generally less popular among voters. Turnout in most counties is often in the 20% to 30% range, Cantrell said. That’s a little lower than turnout in primary elections for statewide offices, which last year was in the 46% to 47% range.
Because some races will be defined in primaries, state election officials encourage Utahns to participate.
Correction: This story has been updated to correct an inaccurate description of privacy tabs and to clarify that the August primaries are non-partisan.
