Salt Lake County’s municipal primaries are just around the corner and voters will face a stricter deadline than previous years if they plan to submit their ballots by mail.
The primary contests, slated for Aug. 12, will feature mayoral and City Council races throughout much of the county. Salt Lake City is using ranked choice voting this year, so all races in Utah’s capital will automatically advance to November’s general election.
Six cities have mayoral races on their primary ballots, however, and 10 contain council contests.
Ballots began going out to primary voters July 22.
During this year’s legislative session, state lawmakers passed a bill requiring Utahns to ensure their mail-in ballots are received by their county clerk by 8 p.m. on primary election day or fall’s Election Day — otherwise, they won’t be counted. Previously, mailed ballots were counted as long as they were postmarked the day before an election.
Salt Lake County Clerk Lannie Chapman said she doesn’t believe the tighter timeline will have a big impact because there are many post offices around the Salt Lake Valley and local mail is delivered quickly.
Still, she urged voters to plan ahead.
“I would encourage voters to be more deliberate in when and what method they’re using to return their by-mail ballot,” Chapman said. “... If voters have taken the time to fill out their ballot and return it, I want to do everything in my power to make sure I can count it, and I don’t want something like when they turn it in to invalidate their ballot.”
To ensure ballots are received on time for the primary, Chapman recommends residents take their ballots to one of the 28 drop boxes across the county. For residents who want to send their ballot through the U.S. Postal Service, she recommends mailing them by Aug. 7. Drop box locations can be found on the county’s website.
Voters can cast their ballots in person on primary election day from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. at any of the dozen vote centers in the county. Locations are listed on the county’s website. Valid identification is required.
Salt Lake County’s municipal primaries are listed below in alphabetical order by city. Mayoral races include candidate names.
Bluffdale
• City Council at large.
Draper
• City Council at large.
Emigration Canyon
• Council at large.
Herriman
• City Council District 3.
Holladay
• Mayor.
Daren A. Watts.
Zac Wilson.
Paul S. Fotheringham.
Kearns
• Mayor
Tina Marie Snow.
Christopher James Geertsen.
Michael Jesse Xon Valdez.
Cache Dexter.
• City Council District 2.
Magna
• Mayor.
Maxwell Thomas White.
Michael Ronald Romero.
Alexander J. Adriano.
Mickey M. Sudbury.
• City Council District 2.
• City Council District 4.
Murray
• Mayor.
John Jeffrey Evans.
Bruce E. Turner.
Brett A. Hales.
City Council District 2.
City Council District 3.
Riverton
• Mayor.
Tish Buroker.
Tawnee McCay.
John E. Scott.
Sandy
• Mayor.
Monica ‘Monica Z’ Zoltanski.
Alison Stroud.
Cyndi Sharkey.
Justin Hilgendorff.
Rodger Downward.
• City Council District 3.
West Jordan
• City Council at large.
West Valley City
• City Council at large.
• City Council District 2.
• City Council District 4.