Of some 67,000 ballots sent to Cache County residents earlier this month, the County Clerk/Auditor’s Office has received only about 20,000 competed ballots so far.
CACHE COUNTY — The staff of the Cache County Clerk/Auditor’s Office are expecting a huge influx of general election ballots next Monday and Tuesday.
“We sent out some 67,000 ballots earlier this month to county residents,” said Jess Bradfield, the county’s clerk/auditor on Friday, Nov. 4. “We’re still processing today’s haul of mail-in ballots. So far, we’ve only received about 19,000 or 20,000 back.”
Even at an estimated 20,000 ballots returned, that would represent less than a 30 percent voter turnout. That’s low for Cache County, according to Bradfield.
In 2020, the clerk’s office sent ballots to 63,833 registered voters in Cache County. A total of nearly 59,000 ballots were returned, for a record voter turnout of slightly more than 92 percent.
Granted, 2020 had a hotly contested presidential election up for grabs. But this year has an equally competitive Senate seat in contention between Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) and independent challenger Evan McMullin as well as the controversial local race between County Executive David Zook and write-in candidate Marc Ensign.
Both those races were expected to generate high voter interest, as well as the Open Space Bond issue (Proposition 1) and the renewal of the Restaurant, Arts, Parks and Zoos Tax (Proposition 2) on the ballot.
Early voting for county residents at the Cache County Administration Building has now closed, but plenty of opportunities to vote still remain.
The statewide election is being conducted by mail, as usual. So completed ballots can simply be dropped in the nearest U.S. Postal Service mailbox.
All ballots returned by the USPS, however, must be post-marked by Nov. 7 to be valid.
Voters can also deposit their ballots in official drop-boxes at various locations throughout the county until Tuesday, Nov. 8.
In-person balloting will also be available on Election Day (Nov. 8) at the Cache County Event Center, from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
The Cache County Event Center is located at 490 South, 500 West in Logan.