Skip the Lines: Vote By Mail

None by KCPW

(KCPW News) Whether you're housebound, living out of the country or simply too busy to vote on Election Day, perhaps a mail-in ballot is for you. Salt lake County Clerk Sherrie Swensen says a law adopted by the State Legislature in 2004 allows Utahns to have an absentee ballot mailed to them on a permanent basis:

"They can vote at their kitchen table with a paper optical scan ballot and it must be postmarked by the day before the election," explains Swensen.

Previously people voting absentee had to offer a reason why they would be absent from their precinct during polling hours on Election Day. An excuse is no longer necessary, and Swensen says there's one very good reason to sign up for vote by mail: Salt Lake County has less than three thousand of the new electronic voting machines compared to the five thousand punch card machines used in previous years:

"With an increasing population, there are less machines to spread around and I am concerned about waiting lines at the polling places in November," says Swensen.

Voters must register for an absentee ballot by November 3rd and postmark it the day before the general election on November 7th. Applications are available online at www.clerk.slco.org.

To hear a longer interview with Salt Lake County Clerk Sherrie Swensen on KCPW's Midday Metro, click here.

Email to a friendPosted in KCPW Newsroom and Election Coverage. Copyright 2009 KCPW