Before residents dig in to turkey and stuffing for Thursday’s Thanksgiving feast, voters will cast ballots for city council races and various propositions on Tuesday.

There are multiple ways for citizens to vote with mail-in ballots, ballot drop boxes and in-person voting, both on Election Day or in the days before. In addition, the “Bring Your Own Ballot” program, referred to as BYOB, that began in the 2023 primary elections will be in place for this general election, but it’s now called “Fast Cast Voting.” This program gives voters “the opportunity to vote in person with the convenience of being able to fill out their ballot at home as slow or as fast as they want to,” said Aaron Davidson, Utah County clerk.

Fast Cast Voting will be available at all voting locations for the general election and allows voters to be in the fast line to show their ID and turn in their pre-completed ballot in person instead of dropping it in a drop box.

Mail-in ballots must be postmarked by Monday — the day before Election Day — in order to be counted. Sealed ballots can be dropped off at any ballot drop box in the county before 8 p.m. on Election Day. There are 27 ballot drop boxes available, according to the Utah County website.

Davidson encourages dropping ballots at drop boxes instead of the post office to ensure they are counted and not at risk of being postmarked late. In addition, combined from the primary and general elections, Utah County will pay nearly $100,000 in return postage for mail-in ballots. “So, if people want to save the taxpayer money, put it in the drop box,” Davidson said.

Early in-person voting will occur at the Utah County Administrative Building in Provo through Monday during normal business hours.

On Election Day, voting centers will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., with nine centers in the county in the following locations:

• Spanish Fork Senior Center.
• The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Pony Express Parkway in Saratoga Springs.
• Utah County Health and Justice Building.
• Pleasant Grove City Office.
• Payson City Hall.
• Center Point Church in Orem.
• Lehi Public Safety Building.
• Highland City Office.
• American Fork Library.

Some cities will be using ranked-choice voting this year. Ranked-choice voting, also referred to as instant runoff voting, allows voters to rank candidates from their first to last choices. Genola, Payson, Vineyard, Lehi and Woodland Hills will use ranked-choice voting this year.

Fairfield is the only city with a mayor up for election. The rest of the voting in Utah County will consist of city council elections and propositions in several cities. The cities that have propositions to vote on are Orem, Pleasant Grove, Lindon and Alpine.

Orem’s Proposition 6 is a renewal of the city’s Cultural Arts and Recreation Enrichment, or CARE, tax, which authorizes 0.1% or one tenth of a percent of local sales tax to be used to provide funding for arts, recreation and parks in Orem.

Pleasant Grove has on its ballot Proposition 14, which asks voters to vote for or against a property tax increase that was approved by the Pleasant Grove City Council in August. The proposition was added after a group of citizens gathered enough signatures to place a referendum on the ballot to allow voters to have a choice in whether or not their property taxes were increased. The $4.72 or 14.8% monthly property tax increase for the average home would increase the city’s property tax revenue to $733,171 for the 2023-2024 fiscal year. The tax would be used to pay for the new Cook Family Park, increased police wages, a new full-time firefighter and a new full-time library program coordinator.

Lindon City’s Proposition 4 is the authorization for Lindon to impose a 0.1% Parks, Arts, Recreation and Culture tax. The PARC tax would finance cultural and recreational facilities and “finance ongoing operations of cultural organizations within Lindon City,” the ballot states. If passed, the tax will remain in place for 10 years.

Alpine City also has a PARC Tax on its ballot labeled Proposition 2. This PARC tax would authorize one-tenth of 1% of sales and use tax “to help fund recreational facilities, park facilities, and cultural arts facilities and organizations in Alpine.” In addition, the tax could be used for improvements and operations of public amenities including parks, playing fields/courts, splash pads, performing arts programs and train/bike paths. It can also be used to “support municipal or non-profit organizations,” including youth groups, museums, theater groups, festivals and heritage.

Although Election Day is close to the Thanksgiving and holiday breaks, voter turnout has been as expected with nearly 17% of registered voter ballots already being turned in and counted, Davidson said. The county expects a total of 20% voter turnout out of 339,370 registered voters, he added.

The Utah County Clerk’s Office received Elk Ridge’s official resolution to cancel the city’s general election on Oct. 24. The reason the election was canceled is because there were three available city council seats and only three candidates running, meaning each would get a seat. Elk Ridge did not hold a primary election as there were not enough candidates at that point in the race. Throughout the race, only the three candidates ran for city council; there were no withdrawals.

Nikki Stevens, Utah County elections coordinator, explained that, per state code, an election can only be canceled if there are no contested seats in the election and no propositions on the ballot. Elk Ridge waited until the candidate write-in date had passed to declare the cancellation of its general election.

To learn more about the candidates and see a sample ballot visit the Utah County Elections Division website

Candidates for each city are as follows:

Eagle Mountain City Council — three spots available:

• Rich Wood
• Craig Whiting
• Angeline Washburn
• Scott Ferre
• Jared R. Gray
• Melissa Clark

American Fork City Council — three spots available

• Clark Preston Taylor
• Tim Holley
• Kenneth W. Sumsion
• Jeff Shorter
• Ernie John

City Wide 2 – Provo City Council — one spot available

• Gary Garrett
• Mackay R. Jensen

Provo City Council District 3 — one spot available

• David Lewis
• Becky Bogdin

Provo City Council District 1 — one spot available

• Craig Christensen
• Stan Jensen

Provo City Council District 4 — one spot available

• Travis Hoban

Cedar Fort City Council Seat C — one spot available

• Jed Berry

Cedar Fort City Council Seat D — one spot available

• Travis Giles

Cedar Hills City Council — three spots available

• Mark Nelson
• Bob Morgan
• Mike Geddes
• Kelly Smith

Elk Ridge City Council (election has been canceled, so the three candidates will be taking the three City Council spots)

• Melanie Paxton
• Charles Wixom
• Cory Thompson

Spanish Fork City Council — three spots available

• Landon Tooke
• Jackie Larson
• Mike Clayson
• Jesse T. Cardon
• Stacy Beck
• Matt Barber

Springville City Council — three spots available

• Logan Millsap
• Hunter Huffman
• Mindi Wright
• Craig Conover
• Jacob Gregg Smith

Goshen City Council — two spots available

• Charles Pipkin
• Randy Thomas
• David P. Okelberry
• Write-in

Highland City Council — three spots available

• Kim Rodela
• Doug Cortney
• Brittney P. Bills
• 3 write in spots

Salem City Council — three spots available

• Tim De Graw
• Paul Y Taylor
• Alan Dale Hansen
• Cynthia Deveraux Rees
• Howard Chuntz

Santaquin City Council — three spots available

• D. Lynn Mecham
• Bryan Mecham
• Brian Del Rosario
• David Hathaway
• J. Travis Keel
• Michael E. Romero

Orem City Council — three spots available

• Crystal Muhlestein
• Matt Mckell
• Chris Killpack
• Jeffrey K. Lambson
• Spencer Rands
• Jenn Gale

Mapleton City Council — three spots available

• Jessica Egbert
• Therin Garrett
• Samuel Bernard
• Teresa Brunson
• Leslie Jones

Saratoga Springs City Council — three spots available

• Kara Martin
• K. Rand Max
• Lance Wadman
• Chris Carn
• Audrey Barton

Pleasant Grove City Council — three spots available

• Denise Trickler
• Cyd Lemone
• Steve Rodgers
• Brent Bullock
• Greg Sorensen
• Eric Jensen

Lindon City Council — three spots available

• Cole Hooley
• Bret d. Frampton
• Steve Stewart
• Lincoln Jacobs

Alpine City Council — three spots available

• Pamela Pamela
• Chrissy Hannemann
• Brent C. Rummler
• Jeremiah Jewkes

Fairfield City Council Seat A — one spot available

• Alina Pringle
• Michael Weber

Fairfield City Council Seat B — one spot available

• Tyler Thomas

Fairfield City Council Seat D — one spot available

• Richard Cameron

Fairfield mayor — one spot available

• Hollie C. McKinney
• Brad Gurney

Ranked-choice voting

Lehi City Council

• Heather Newall
• Nicole Kunze
• Kenneth Roberts
• K. Casey Glade
• Paige Albrecht
• Michelle Stallings

Vineyard City Council

• Alexander Teemsma
• Joshua Hendrix
• Jacob Holdaway
• Natalie Harbin
• Cristy Welsh
• Caden Rhoton
• Sara Cameron

Genola City Council

• Curtis G. Thomas
• Bryan Leroy
• Corinne Aagard
• Neil Brown
• Stan Judd

Woodland Hills City Council

• Kari L. Malkovich
• Brian Hutchings
• Benjamin Hillyard
• Spencer A. Wells

Payson City Council

• Tyler William Moore
• Anne Moss
• Brian V. Hulet
• Ryan Rowley
• Teancum J. Clark
• Kirk Beecher
• Carl Brines
• Easton Brady
• Lacee Mae Smith

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