Ballots for local city council races were sent out on Monday, meaning residents across the Utah Valley can begin casting their votes in this year’s primary election.

On Monday, the Utah County Elections Division tweeted, “Keep an eye on your mailbox this week, and if you haven’t received a ballot by next Monday, please contact our office.”

The cities that will be holding primary elections are American Fork, Eagle Mountain, Lehi, Orem, Pleasant Grove, Provo, Spanish Fork and Springville.

The last day to register to vote and receive a mail-in-ballot is Aug. 25 by 5 p.m. Residents can register online at voter.utah.gov or in person at the Utah County Clerk’s Office, or they can register through mail if they do it early enough that the elections office receives it before Aug. 25. Registration to vote without a mail-in-ballot is available online and in person until the primary election day on Sept. 5.

All ballots must be postmarked by the U.S. Postal Service by Sept. 5 or dropped off at a secure drop box or a polling location by 8 p.m.

Ballots can also be mailed in through the USPS by the time offices close on Sept. 5, but Utah County Clerk Aaron Davidson said to go inside of the office, walk up to the counter and ensure it is manually postmarked instead of just dropping it off, to avoid a delay in the ballot getting postmarked. Even if the ballot is given to a post office by Sept. 5, if it is not postmarked by that date it will not be counted. Davidson suggested dropping it at a drop box or dropping it at a polling place to ensure it is received on time.

There are 11 drop boxes that will be open 24/7 until 8 p.m. Sept. 5. The drop box locations are:

• 64 S. 100 East, American Fork
• 1650 E. Stagecoach Run, Eagle Mountain
• 153 N. 100 East, Lehi
• 56 N. State St., Orem
• 93 N. 400 East, Orem
• 70 S. 100 East, Pleasant Grove
• 100 E. Center St., Provo
• 1200 Towne Center Blvd., Provo
• 550 N. University Ave., Provo
• 80 S. Main St., Spanish Fork
• 110 S. Main St., Springville

From Aug. 28 until Sept. 1, voters can cast their ballots early at the Elections Office in the Utah County Administration Building located at 100 E. Center St., Suite 3100, in Provo. It will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Anyone is also welcome to come to the office to register to vote from now until Election Day from 8 a.m to 5 p.m., except Labor Day, Sept. 4.

On Election Day, polls will open at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m. On this day and during the early voting, Utahns can register and vote in person, or just vote in person if they are already a registered voter. To vote in person on Election Day, voters can visit any polling place in their county and must bring a photo ID. To register and vote in person on Election Day, voters must bring a photo ID and proof of residency.

There is also an option to vote provisionally during early voting and on Election Day, which means no ID is shown. However, the ballot will then be provisional, meaning it is not yet valid until proof of ID is shown to verify the voter’s identity. Davidson said poll workers will contact the resident to get proof of ID; but if it is not shown, the ballot will not be counted.

In-person vote centers will each be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Election Day. They are at:

• ​​American Fork Library, 64 S. 100 East
• Center Point Church, 1550 Sandhill Road, Orem
• Eagle Mountain City Hall, 1650 E. Stagecoach Run
• Lehi Public Safety Building, 128 N. 100 East
• Spanish Fork Senior Center, 167 W. Center St.
• Utah County Health and Justice Building, 151 S. University Ave., Suite 1600, Provo

A new way of casting ballots will be available this year at two of the voting centers in Utah County. The new pilot program is called BYOB, standing for Bring Your Own Ballot. Davidson explained that, in the past, if someone were to bring in an already filled out ballot, they would need to place it in the drop box or they would have to fill out a new ballot.

This year, the elections office is accepting pre-filled-out ballots to be cast in person at a voting center. He explained that voters will show their ID to be checked in manually and then insert their ballot into a designated machine that will only accept ballots that were filled out prior to coming to the voting center. This program will be available at the American Fork Library and the Utah County Health and Justice Building voting centers.

Davidson said some residents have expressed concern about this program causing double voting. But he assured that when the voters are checked in, poll workers will check the system to verify that the voter has not deposited another ballot into a drop box. If another ballot is dropped into a drop box after their pre-filled ballot is turned in, he added, it will notify the poll worker as they are going through the ballots that the voter has already submitted one.

“There’s no way to get two ballots in the system; we’ll be checking at both ends,” Davidson said.

This new program is also in place for early voting to allow those voters to also vote in person, but to fill out their ballot at home. The reason this new program is being tested out, Davidson said, is because, “There’s a lot of voters that have said they want to go in person and show their ID, and so we have developed this way, and we are testing it at this time. Hopefully it’ll be at every polling station in November.”

The number of seats available on each city council can be found on the voting ballot. The primary election will narrow the number of candidates to twice the number of seats available. For example, there are currently 15 candidates running for city council in Lehi after the withdrawal of Rachel Barnes and Taylor Frost. The Lehi City Council has three seats available, so the primary elections will narrow the 15 candidates down to six for the general election. All of the other cities also have three seats available, except for Provo, which has one seat available.

The results for the primary election will be posted on the Utah County Clerk’s Office website at 8 p.m. Sept. 5 after the voting centers and drop boxes close. They will continue to be updated as remaining ballots are counted.

General election ballots will be sent out on Oct. 30 and the general election will conclude Nov. 21.

WHO’S ON THE BALLOT?

The primary election candidates for each city council are as follows:

American Fork

Austin Duke

Clark Preston Taylor

Tim Holley

Elizabeth Gray

James Boden

Christina Ballard

Kenneth W Sumsion

Jeff Shorter

Ernie John

Eagle Mountain

Craig Morris

Rich Wood

Craig Whiting

Angeline Washburn

Scott Ferre

Jared R Gray

Melissa Clark

Lehi

R. Curtis Payne

Heather Newall

Ieli Charlie Tautuaa

Jason Hill

Jason Harris

Nicole Kunze

Tyler R. Lindsay

Kenneth Roberts

K. Casey Glade

Paige Albrecht

Corey Astill

Jeremy K Baker

Brent Summers

Michelle Stallings

Haley Sousa

Orem

Crystal Muhlestein

Matt McKell

Greg Duerden

Chris Killpack

Jeffrey K. Lambson

Archie A. Williams III

Spencer Rands

Heather M. Fry

Jenn Gale

David Edward Garber

Mike Carpenter

Wade A. Sewell

Pleasant Grove

Denise Trickler

David R. Lukens

Cyd Lemone

Steve Rogers

Brent Bullock

Greg Sorensen

Eric Jensen

Provo

Joseph Penrose

Ari Emmanuel Webb

Gary Garrett

Wendy Ahlman

Tanner Bennett

Mckay R. Jensen

Nathan Smith Jones

Spanish Fork

Landon Tooke

Edes Hill

Jackie Larson

Mark Warner

Mike Clayson

Jesse T. Cardon

Stacy Beck

Matt Barber

Springville

Logan Millsap

Dallas McGee

Hunter Huffman

John Harvey Wells

Mindi Wright

Craig Conover

Jacob Gregg Smith

Nathan Shaw

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