SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (News4Utah) Ahead of the mid-term election, nearly 20,000 voters registered in Salt Lake County within the last three weeks.
Registration is up across the state in 2018, but the deadlines for doing so can be confusing.
Voters still have plenty of time to register, but thousands aren’t waiting until last minute.
More than 57,000 Utahns signed up since the beginning of the year, up 3.7 percent, according to state voter data.
“If you want to have an effect on what you do in your life then voting is really the only way to do that,” Valeri Merrell said, who registered Tuesday.
“I think it is the responsible thing to do for citizens in our country,” Sarah Olsen said, who also registered to vote Tuesday.
Even with the mail-in registration deadline on Tuesday, in-person and online registrations are accepted through October 30. It can even be done on Election Day with voting done through a provisional ballot.
Salt Lake County Clerk Sherrie Swensen says the sooner the better.
“We don’t want them to wait. They can. We prefer they register ahead of time, that way, we can send them a ballot and make it really convenient,” Swensen said.
Swensen believes controversial ballot propositions are driving the increase in voter registrations in 2018. To check your registration status and other important voting deadlines, click here.
