As election season approaches, Orem voters may be in for a few surprises.

If Orem has a primary municipal election, votes will be cast with paper ballots using a centralized optical scan count, said Donna Weaver, Orem city recorder.

However, Utah County will be handling the final election, because the school voucher referendum will be on the ballot, and unincorporated areas throughout the county have to be included in that vote. The county will have the touchscreen electronic equipment used last November.

"I'm hoping the biggest question our citizens will have is why we are doing different (systems) between our primary and our general elections -- not confusion on how to use the equipment," Weaver said.

If voters are not confident, and feel intimidated by the voting equipment, "they have the right to ask for a paper ballot," Weaver said.

Three Orem City Council seats will be up for election -- the seats now held by Les Campbell, Mark Seastrand and Margaret Black.

Seastrand and Black both were appointed to their positions. Seastrand was selected to fill the seat held by the late Doug Forsyth, who died while in office, and Black was appointed after Councilman Stephen Sandstrom was elected to the state Legislature.

Weaver said that if six people or fewer file for the election, no primary will be held, but if seven people or more file, a primary election will be held on Sept. 11. The final municipal election will be on Nov. 6.

The filing period for the municipal election has changed, Weaver said. This year, the two-week period will be July 1 through July 16, with the one-day extension because July 15 is a Sunday.

"At 5 p.m., we close the door," she said.

City council candidates are required to be at least 18 years old, a registered voter, and a resident of Orem for the past 12 months. There is also a requirement that those who are "mentally incompetent", convicted of a felony, treason, or a "crime against the elective franchise" (voter fraud) are disqualified until their right to vote has been restored.

"There is a process in state law that allows challenges to a candidacy from citizens who claim to have knowledge about a person," Weaver said, noting she has not heard of that process being used in Orem. "It would be a serious thing to bring charges like that against someone."

The county has done some consolidation of precincts. There were 54 last year, and 47 now, so there has been re-numbering. There will likely be some confusion, Weaver said. Notification cards about the changes are being sent to registered voters.

"We are using the same polling locations the county is," said Weaver. "They will be the same for the primary and the general elections, so if a voter figures out where to be for the primary, they should be okay for the general election, too."

For the first time, early voting will be allowed in the municipal election, for two weeks before both the primary, beginning Aug. 28, and the general election, starting Oct. 23. Voters participate in the early voting by coming to the city recorder's office in the City Center.

Absentee voting is on the rise, Weaver said, from 65 such votes in 2003 to almost 750 in the 2005 general election.

A person does not have to be "absent," or gone from the area, to take advantage of the option, but it does involve a two-step process. There is an application that has to be filled out, signed, and filed in the office. Secondly, with the ballot and vote, there is an affidavit envelope that has to be filled out and signed. Signatures on the two are compared.

An application for an absentee ballot can be obtained by calling the recorder's office and having it mailed or faxed, or by going to the city's Web site and downloading it. Absentee ballots have to be postmarked no later than the day before the election.

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page B2.