Curtis Booker, Daily Herald

On a wet and chilly Election Day, voters in Utah County are taking to the polls to make their voices heard.

Tuesday morning, Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson released an update via X showing a statewide early voting total of around 53%. Utah County was at 43.8% voting turnout — the lowest mark of any county in the state, according to her post.

However, many Utah County residents were opting to vote in person.

“So it looked like we had early turnout with everything at about 43% last night. But today, all of our locations are just flooded with people wanting to vote in person,” County Clerk Aaron Davidson told the Daily Herald when reached early Tuesday afternoon.

Long lines of voters were observed in places like Lehi at the Public Safety Building as well as the Health and Justice Building in Provo.

Curtis Booker, Daily Herald

Davidson claimed that election workers in some locations across the county were running low on ballots for voters.

“I’m actually out delivering more ballot stock to our different voting locations,” he said.

In a Tuesday evening post on X, formerly Twitter, A Salt Lake Tribune reporter said that Davidson was printing and delivering 1,000 emergency ballots to locations in Highland and Pleasant Grove due to printers running out of magenta ink, resulting in delays. The Tribune also reported that Utah County election operations were being monitored by state officials after discrepancies were discovered following this year’s primary election results.

The added scrutiny comes at a controversial time for the county clerk’s office.

Last week, Davidson publicly revealed that he tracked how public officials had cast their votes, telling the Deseret News that Sen. Mike McKell, R-Spanish Fork, did not put a stamp on his ballot last election.

Utah County Commissioner Amelia Powers Gardner called the actions “voter intimidation” and requested Davidson remove himself from overseeing the election. Jeff Gray, the Utah County attorney, told the Deseret News last week his office is investigating Davidson’s actions.

Gray confirmed to the Daily Herald on Tuesday that he’s still looking into the complaints but didn’t have any updates, estimating it would be “at least” a month before his office had any solid answers.

“I need to examine the law, examine the facts and determine whether or not there’s a possible investigation,” he said.

Gray added that, at a certain point, he may refer the investigation to another agency due to a potential conflict of interest.

According to Kristen Swensen, elections director for the Utah County Elections Division, early turnout included approximately 170,000 people who voted via mail or drop box, and 6,500 people who voted in person early.

As of noon Tuesday, there were 7,000 in-person ballots cast on Election Day — a number Swensen anticipated would triple by day’s end.

“Our equipment is working really well. Just those few little first things in the morning, bumps that you always have, and we’re just processing voters,” she said. “So we’ve got some locations that aren’t as busy as others, and then we have some that are just really cranking out. Saratoga Springs is probably one of the busiest.”

With many hot button items on the ballot in Utah County such as the fate of Alpine School District, electing a new county commissioner and a bevy of seats in the Utah House and Senate, it may be several days before most results are deemed official.

“We’re probably expecting anywhere from 60,000 to 80,000 ballots to come in through the drop boxes today alone,” Davidson said, with still hours to go until the polls closed.