Long lines, limited hours and lousy weather are a few of the elements that can produce a disastrous Election Day for some.
But, by marking their ballots early, voters can avoid these common annoyances, said Sandy Hoffman, Utah County's Elections Coordinator.
After months of poll-worker training and security preparations, the Utah County Elections Office opened polling locations on Tuesday in hopes that citizens will take advantage of early voting.
There are many benefits to voting early, Hoffman said. Aside from avoiding weather complications and lines, citizens have a longer period of time to cast their vote, including extended after-work hours, which is not the case on a normal election day.
"You have nine days [to vote], so that should hopefully fit into your personal schedule or work schedule," Hoffmann said.
Pleasant Grove resident and poll worker Karen Arnesen, considers the time flexibility one of the greatest benefits of voting early.
"You're in charge of the circumstance," Arnesen said. "You make the voting fit around your day."
Voters also have the luxury of selecting their own polling location during the early voting period. This means that registered voters can go to either one of the designated early voting locations and find their ballot information uploaded on the server. But, come Election Day, it's back to precinct-assigned polling, Hoffman said.
Because of these added conveniences on behalf of voters, significantly more labor and preparation is required from the Election Office and 800 volunteer poll-workers prior to and during the early voting period. And recent changes in party affiliation paperwork complicated the process even more this year, Hoffmann said.
With some political groups now allowed to close their parties, some require unaffiliated voters to fill out special forms at the polls in order to vote by their party on Election Day, a process poll-workers haven't dealt with in past elections.
"Whenever you do anything that changes things from the norm, you have around 800 volunteers as poll-workers that have to try and comprehend it," Hoffmann said.
But the Election Office faces a bigger challenge consistently in low voter turnout.
Despite the advantages to voting early, less than 1 percent of the 200,000 registered voters in the valley will participate, Hoffman said. And only 30 percent will vote on Election Day.
Of those 200,000 registered voters, students most commonly tend to neglect their voting privilege, Hoffmann said.
"A lot of students will register for whatever reason it might be, sometimes to prove residency, but then they won't vote," Hoffmann said.
Although many factors may affect student voter turnout, one is lack of information regarding the candidates and issues.
"We [the Elections Office] don't want to give the appearance that we're endorsing one party or candidate over another, therefore we do nothing," Hoffmann said. "So it really has been hard for the voter to find as much information as possible."
Hoffmann hopes this problem will be resolved soon with the mandatory addition of information on candidate platforms on the county's Web site in March. Voters will be able to peruse 200-word statements from each candidate.
"I think it will be a lot easier when the Lt. Governor gets that Web page up, because then it's what I'm calling 'one-stop shopping'," Hoffmann said.
The county Web site is http://www.co.utah.ut.us/Dept/ClerkAud/Elections.
Although the Web site will not be affective until immediately after this election, Hoffmann hopes it will encourage citizens to put forth the effort to study the issues and candidates, actively use their voices and become more involved in future elections overall.
After all, the decisions being made by those in office affect our everyday lives, Hoffmann said. And the right to have a say in those decisions shouldn't be forfeited.
"If you don't put forth the effort to vote and understand the issues, then really you're not speaking your voice," Hoffmann said. "And a lot of people will say, 'well my vote doesn't count anyway,' but everybody's vote counts."
Besides being a citizen's right and privilege, BYU Freshman Victoria Taylor considers voting a part of civic duty and wonders why anyone would choose to relinquish that opportunity.
"If you had the power to make a change, wouldn't you want to?" Taylor said. "It's not a very difficult thing that's asked of us."
Where to Vote Early
To vote early, bring picture I.D. to one of the following locations between Jan. 22 and Feb. 1.
American Fork Library
64 S. 100 E., American Fork
3:00-7:00 p.m.
Utah County Administration Building
100 E. Center St., Room L900, Provo
8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
For more information call the Elections Office at (801) 851-8128.
Copyright Brigham Young University 23 Jan 2008
