This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
A plurality of Utahns voted for President-elect Donald Trump this year, but there wasn't a groundswell of support for the Republican nominee from the state as compared with previous elections.
But Utahns are still eager to see Trump sworn into office.
Utah's congressional delegation is being inundated with requests for tickets to the Jan. 20 inauguration — adding up to hundreds more requests than there are tickets available.
Rep. Jason Chaffetz cut off requests for tickets a couple of weeks ago after receiving more than double the requests for passes than he was alloted.
Each House office from Utah received about 200 tickets, mostly for the standing-room sections, while Sens. Orrin Hatch and Mike Lee received about twice as many.
"Any time you're swearing in a new president, it's an historic moment," Chaffetz said. "It's a chance to watch history live. There was so much excitement with President Obama but I see the same amount of excitement with President Trump."
Hatch's office said there was a "limited number of tickets but massive interest."
The organizer of the swearing-in ceremony, the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, will issue about 240,000 tickets to the inauguration of America's 45th president, with several seated areas near the Capitol expanding into sections of standing-room only.
Parts of the National Mall will be open to visitors without tickets, but there are plenty of Utahns who would like to get as close as possible to the incoming president's swearing in.
Rep. Mia Love's office says it received more than 200 requests, while Rep. Chris Stewart's office says interest in tickets far overshadows its supply of the 198 it has.
"Based on the number of tickets that have been requested, there seems to be a lot of interest from Utahns," said Stewart spokeswoman Allison Leavitt. "We now have a big waitlist of over 100 requests that we can't accommodate."
Sen. Mike Lee's spokesman said the office has about 400 tickets to hand out and interest has been in line with past inaugurations.