(KCPW News) Today marks the beginning of early voting across the state for the June 26 primary election. Salt Lake County Clerk Sherrie Swensen says with the excitement of this year’s races, combined with how convenient it is to vote, she expects an above average turnout.
“We’re running 21 early vote locations throughout Salt Lake County for the primary election, as we will again for the November election, and it’s an opportunity for people to go to any one of those locations,” she explains.”
Swensen says the most interest this primary stems from the race between Republican U.S. Senate candidates Orrin Hatch and Dan Liljenquist. There’s also a Republican Party showdown between Mike Winder and Mark Crockett for Salt Lake County Mayor, and a handful of Democratic primaries for Congress, the Utah House and Senate.
Matthew Burbank, a political science professor at the University of Utah, says early voting can be a pro and a con for candidates.
“In some ways it can help candidates, because they may be able to get some information about who’s voting or where they’re voting, and that may be useful to them as they’re thinking about their Election Day strategy, but it also complicates their lives a bit because it means that some people will be out voting and will have voted even before we get to Election Day and the campaigns kind of formally wrap up,” says Burbank.
Early voting runs through Friday, June 22nd. You can view polling locations in Salt Lake and Davis counties using these links.
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