Expect delays on Election Day

By Josh Loftin
Deseret Morning News
Published: Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2006 11:05 p.m. MDT
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Longer than expected waits for voters casting ballots early may foreshadow potentially lengthy waits on Election Day, especially for those who go to the polls in the final hours.

In the first couple of days of the new early voting period, wait times in some locations along the Wasatch Front were exceeding one hour, with lines extending out the doors of government offices, libraries and recreation centers. Even those places with short lines were still taking people as long as a half an hour to finish voting.

A big part of the problem is the length of time required to vote on the new, ATM-style electronic voting machines, said Jason Yocom, chief deputy clerk for Salt Lake County. On average, he said that reports were indicating that people were taking seven to nine minutes to vote, which is almost double the time needed on the punch card ballots. Also contributing to the wait are a lengthy ballot and the fact that anyone voting straight party still has to go through the entire ballot, Yocom said. But whatever the causes, he is worried that those current waits could be compounded on Nov. 7, when more than 90 percent of the voters will go to the polls.

"It does cause us some concern for Election Day," Yocom said. "We simply don't have the equipment. It is taking longer...and it could be really busy in the evening rush hours."

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Slightly more than 5 percent of the voters cast their ballots early during the June primary elections, and elections officials at the state and county level are expecting similar turnout for the general election. Because it is the first year that early voting has been used — it is different than absentee voting, which has been allowed for years, because there are no required applications — the state elections office and county clerks have made a big push to educate voters about the early voting.

For the most part, that effort has been successful, said Joe Demma, the chief of staff for Lt. Gov. Gary Herbert, who oversees elections in the state. Although he doesn't expect the initial rush of people to vote early to continue until it ends Nov. 2, if it did, they would have almost 20 percent turn-out.

Davis County Elections Coordinator Pat Beckstead said that while they are seeing longer vote times, it is primarily due to people who are initially skeptical of the new machines and move a little more deliberately.

E-mail: jloftin@desnews.com

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