Democrats Have Questions for Election Officials

None by Lara Jones

Smoothing the Way to 2008 State By State

(KCPW News) The Democratic Party is looking into the way elections are run in each state. It's an effort to resolve issues prior to next year's presidential election.

Over the next month-and-a-half, the Utah Democratic Party has a list of 30 or so questions for election officials across Utah's 29 counties. For example, "How they purge voters from the voter roles, how they choose to distribute voting machines, what the procedures are to keep them secure - those kinds of things," says Todd Taylor, executive director of the Utah Democratic Party.

By and large, Taylor says elections in Utah run smoothly. However, he claims Republicans were actively campaigning at polling locations during last year's election:

"The last election we saw a fair number of people, contrary to Utah state law, campaigning at the polling locations," he explains. "I think, initially, they were given bad instructions from the Republican Party itself and it took the better part of the day to get those things corrected."

Deputy Salt Lake County Clerk Jason Yocum says most of the complaints he received from Taylor dealt with Republican campaign signs found to be within 150 feet of polling locations - which is prohibited by law. Stan Lockhart, Utah Republican Party Chair, says he is unaware of any such complaints from the 2006 election.

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