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If all goes according to plan with the new vote-by-mail system, voters may know soon after the polls close Tuesday night whether Salt Lake City will get a new mayor, or whether sales tax will tick up to pay for local roads, sidewalks and increased transit service.

"At just a minute after 8 p.m.," when the polls close, "we will release everything that we have received and counted up to that point," Salt Lake County Clerk Sherrie Swensen said Monday.

Brian McKenzie, elections director for Davis County, where about half its cities are voting by mail, joked that he might try to beat Salt Lake County "by releasing our results at one second after 8 p.m." Utah County Clerk-Auditor Bryan Thompson said his first big release is expected about 9 p.m.

Those early releases should contain the vast majority of the votes, since people in 14 of 16 Salt Lake County cities have been mailing in ballots for weeks and because, in Salt Lake County's case, Swensen's office will also collect early ballots throughout Tuesday at in-person voting centers and at special ballot drop-off boxes.

Swensen expects only one additional vote-count update Tuesday, about 10 p.m., which will include late ballots from Election Day voting centers, and from the two cities in her county conducting in-person voting, West Valley City and Taylorsville. Then the final, official counts will come in two weeks at Nov. 17 vote canvasses.

The Salt Lake Tribune will post election stories and updates online at sltrib.com.

As Election Day arrives, voters are deciding a hot Salt Lake City mayoral race between incumbent Ralph Becker and challenger Jackie Biskupski, the Proposition 1 question on whether to raise sales taxes one-quarter cent per dollar for transportation, and measures to determine how to govern unincorporated areas in Salt Lake County.

Voters also will settle other local races in 180 cities and towns statewide, and in 17 counties, said Mark Thomas, state elections director for Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox.

"And we have another 65 municipalities where elections were canceled" because only one person was running for an available office, he said.

Polls and voting centers are open Tuesday from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

But in this municipal election year, "At least 70 cities are voting all by mail," Thomas said.

By-mail ballots had to be postmarked by Monday.

"But if people haven't voted yet, it's not too late," Swensen said. Their by-mail ballots can be dropped off in person at voting centers, or at special ballot drop-boxes. Also, people may request to vote using electronic machines at voting centers if they have lost a by-mail ballot, or if they simply prefer to vote that way.

Swensen said each voting center has access to a statewide database of who has voted, "so they can look up voters and tell if they have returned a ballot."

Salt Lake County has 12 drive-through ballot drop-off boxes that may be used until 8 p.m. Locations are listed at got-vote.org. (Find the Vote by Mail category and click on Ballot Return Options). Voters may use any of them — and 27 in-person voting centers in the county — not just one located in their own city.

"So if someone lives in Bluffdale but works in Salt Lake City, they can vote there — or vice versa," Swensen said. "We've made it convenient."

McKenzie urges people in vote-by-mail areas who are going to use voting centers to bring in their by-mail ballots. "It will be their fast pass to the front of the line to vote by dropping off their ballot, if they choose."

Thomas said the state's election website, vote.utah.gov, has information about where people may vote statewide, and also has information about candidates and ballot propositions.

Because of a pilot project, people who aren't registered to vote may do so on Election Day — and vote — in Salt Lake, Davis and Weber counties. "They need to bring photo ID with them, and some proof of residency such as a utility bill with their address on it," Swensen said.

Because of a tough mayoral race in Salt Lake City between Becker and Biskupski, Swensen said, "I was hoping for a 60 percent turnout there, but I don't know that we're going to get that. It may be more like 55 percent."

That is still very high, considering in 2011 Salt Lake City's turnout was 24 percent. As of close of business Monday, the turnout in Salt Lake City's by-mail vote was 40.2 percent. And, Swensen said, "I think people are waiting" and watching late developments. "And I think people like to drop off ballots because it's more like traditional voting."

Turnout in Millcreek, which is considering whether to incorporate as a city or join a metro township, also had a high turnout of 40 percent, Swensen said. The countywide voter turnout, as of Monday, was 32 percent in Salt Lake County.

McKenzie said the turnout in many Davis County cities so far was in the mid-20 percent range, but Bountiful was at 31 percent as of Friday.

Thompson said turnout in Utah County cities using by-mail voting was in the high teens, but was as high as 24 percent in Alpine as of Friday.

The state will watch closely how well voting by mail works, Thomas said, and evaluate whether it may make sense to switch permanently statewide. He said in primaries this year, it increased voter turnout percentages "generally by the double-digits."