Earlier this year, former Representative of Utah’s Second Congressional District Chris Stewart resigned from his seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. In order to minimize the time in which the seat remained empty, Utah’s Governor Spencer Cox enacted a plan to replace him before the new year. However, a Utah law prohibits special elections on already existing election dates. In response, the governor and the legislator decided to move the dates of the general elections back.
The general elections for city council taking place throughout Utah County will now take place on Nov. 21. However, ballots must be postmarked as Nov. 20 to be counted.
According to an interview KSL had with Salt Lake County Clerk Lannie Champman, the confusion that the pushback dates caused might end up being a good thing. Voters have been turning in their ballots earlier than normal and suggests a higher turnout overall.
These extra two weeks give students extra time to prepare and learn about candidates and prevalent issues that affect their community. Each candidate provides a small message that can be found on Utah’s official government website here. On the same website, students can register to vote, learn in what ways they can vote, and find prior election results and historical data.
Though this is a smaller election, we at the UVU Review ask you to vote. Last year, Editor-in-chief of the UVU Review Matthew Drachman wrote an open letter speaking on the importance your vote has on your community. Stating that students should “Never believe that your impact is insignificant compared to millions of others. It only took 537 people back in 2000 to win the election for George W. Bush. Will you be the one that changes history?”
