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Campaign signs for two candidates running for seat 4 on the Timpanogos school board are pictured Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2025, in Orem.

Jacob Nielson, Daily Herald

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Utah County Clerk Aaron Davidson speaks during a county commission meeting in Provo on Wednesday, July 26, 2023.

Harrison Epstein, Daily Herald file photo

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The Alpine School District's main office in American Fork is pictured Thursday, July 31, 2025.

Curtis Booker, Daily Herald file photo

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Utah County Clerk Aaron Davidson said he expected a higher participation rate in this year’s municipal election due to school board races for three new school districts.

A week before the election though, the county has received 27,097 of 346,201 ballots sent out as of Monday night — a 7.8% voter turnout, which Davidson said lags behind current turnout rates in several other counties.

“I was anticipating a much bigger turnout because of the new three school districts that were created with 21 seats to be filled,” Davidson said. “But we’re not getting it. I mean, it’s just kind of an average year.” 

The Aspen Peaks, Lake Mountain and Timpanogos school districts will be formed from the existing Alpine School District, and voters from Saratoga Springs to Orem will choose school board members to represent their respective neighborhoods. In total, 21 seats will be filled.

Elected school board members will take office in January 2026 and a superintendent will be hired in preparation for the official school district change in July 2027.

Davidson challenged voters in the three districts to research their local school board candidates prior to the Nov. 4 election and send in their ballots.

“Open up your web browser, Google your school district, find out who’s running and make your selection on that,” he said. “Who’s going to run the school districts? I think that’s one of the most important election races that are going on in this county, and I would love to see a 40% turnout.”

The current results follow recent trends because traditionally Utah County “tends to lag behind,” in early voting, Davidson said. However, he believes many county residents wait to turn in their ballot the day before the election or on Election Day, and he expects a lot of ballots to process Election Day and the day after.

For those who choose to vote in person, there will be 10 in-person voting locations throughout the county operated by county officials: American Fork Library, Eagle Mountain Overland Barn, Highland City Offices, Lehi Public Safety Building, Orem CenterPoint Church, Payson City Hall, Pleasant Grove Public Safety Building, Provo Health and Justice Building, Spanish Fork Library, and Vineyard City Hall.

Davidson said there will be no Saratoga Springs voting location because the mayor and two school board seats in the city are running unopposed, and only 26 people from Saratoga Springs voted in person for the primary.

Those figures stand in contrast to neighboring Eagle Mountain, which Davidson said had the largest primary turnout, with nearly 300 provisional ballots.

Davidson said there is not early voting data available for specific cities yet, but he expects a high turnout in Spring Lake, a new city being formed, and said there are 5,100 ballots submitted out of approximately 40,000 ballots sent out in Orem.

He said the first wave of election results should be out by 8 p.m. Tuesday and the second wave will be out around 11 p.m. that night.