If you've got it, you might as well use it.

That philosophy prompted Provo to use the county's new electronic voting equipment in its primary on Tuesday.

"I really think that people ought to get used to voting one way," said Mayor Lewis Billings.

The city was the sole user of the equipment on Tuesday, with the rest of the county's cities using the old punchcard system. The issue was cost, with the electronic machines more expensive to use.

But Billings said after working with the county, the city got its election costs within 10 percent to 15 percent of what it planned to spend on punchcard machines.

"We couldn't afford to do it otherwise," he said.

It also gave the county a chance to test the equipment during a municipal election, which it normally doesn't do.

"We do get the results a lot quicker than we did with punchcards," said county election coordinator Sandy Hoffmann.

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page A6.