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Maybe it's because of summer and vacations. Maybe voters were busy celebrating Pioneer Day. Or maybe they simply have not decided which candidates — if any — they like yet.

But just a trickle of by-mail ballots are being returned so far in this year's municipal elections. That news comes as early voting will start on Tuesday in cities that opted to vote in-person instead of by mail this year.

"We've had 16,325 ballots returned so far out of about 120,000" that were mailed about two weeks ago, said Salt Lake County Clerk Sherrie Swensen. That's about 13.6 percent of the ballots. In her county, 14 of 16 cities have opted to vote by mail this year.

Scott Hogensen, chief deputy clerk-auditor for Utah County, says the rate of return so far for ballots sent out by mail there is only about half that in Salt Lake County.

But his office is handling only in-person primary elections for some (not all) cities, and that return rate is just for requested absentee ballots. Davis County has yet to count how many ballots have been returned there so far.

"Now after vacations and the holiday, I think we will start to see things pick up," Swensen said. "Maybe people are waiting to make up their minds until it [Election Day] is a little closer," adding that a hotly contested mayoral race in Salt Lake City may especially have people waiting there as they watch developments.

"They have until August 10 to get ballots postmarked if they are returning them by mail," she said, noting that voters had postage-paid envelopes provided.

"Or they can drop them at drop boxes we have throughout the county" all day every day until the Aug. 11 Election Day at 8 p.m., she said. Some of those boxes are at the county government center and at city halls in Murray, Riverton, Sandy and West Jordan.

"Voters certainly have plenty of time still," Swensen said.

In Salt Lake County, only West Valley City and Taylorsville opted for in-person voting this year — and only West Valley City has contested primary races.

Early voting for West Valley City residents begins Tuesday at its city hall from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily through Aug. 7. Swensen adds that in-person absentee voting is available for residents of any city in her county at her clerk's office at 2100 S. State in Salt Lake City from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily through Aug. 7.

In Davis County, early voting at city halls also begins Tuesday in Centerville, Layton, South Weber, West Bountiful and West Point. More information, including varying hours for voting and information on candidates, is available at davisvotes.com.

Utah County cities offering early voting beginning Tuesday at city halls include Eagle Mountain, Elk Ridge, Pleasant Grove and Saratoga Springs. Provo also offers it at the Provo City Recreation Center, 320 W. 500 North.

County clerks say that voting by mail, while perhaps off to a slow start, is expected to bring higher voter turnout by making it easier to cast ballots.

Davis County Clerk-Auditor Curtis Koch said all voting was by mail last year in his countywide elections. The turnout for the primary then was 28 percent, up from about 14 percent in previous elections. In the general election last year, the turnout was 48 percent — up from about 35 percent in most typical in-person elections.

Two years ago in Salt Lake County, two cities voted by mail. Swensen said the turnout for 2013 Cottonwood Heights mayoral primary was 29.5 percent, compared to 12.3 percent for an in-person mayoral primary in 2009. In West Jordan, the mayoral primary turnout was 17.7 percent in 2013, compared to 6.9 percent in 2009.

Swensen said that on the day of the primary election, Aug. 11, and the final election, Nov. 3, all vote-by-mail cities in Salt Lake County will also have in-person vote centers.

"The vote centers will accommodate those who need the amenities of the electronic voting machine because it offers an audio ballot so individuals with a visual impairment can vote privately," she said. "Also, vote centers will accommodate anyone who might have misplaced their ballot or who prefers to vote in person."