USU hosts site for early voting

Utah State University held an opportunity for early voting from Oct. 26-29 in the Aspen Room in the TSC. This gave students a more convenient way to let their voice be heard in the midterms with same day voter registration also being available. 

To register to vote on the same day, students needed to bring a photo ID, like their driver’s license, and proof of residency, like a recent piece of mail with their name and address, to register. 

An individual students may have talked with while getting registered to vote is Carter Chatterton, a staff member from the deputy clerk’s office. Chatterton is also a student at USU studying political science and journalism.

“We love early voting,” Chatterton said. “We want people to vote early and often. We think it’s more convenient for the voter. It gives them more time and space to make an educated decision that they feel comfortable with. It helps our workload as well at the county.”

According to vote.utah.gov, Cache County has over 70,000 voters.

Jo, Madi, and James are all voting clerks carrying out the various operations involved in the county city elections period. (Lola Probasco/ The Utah Statesman)

“We usually receive half of our ballots every day before Election Day, and then the second half on Election Day,” Chatterton said. “We try to spread that out over the course of the early voting period as well. Along with that is encouraging people to vote by mail.” 

Mail-in ballots can be dropped off at ballot drop-box locations before Election Day at 8 p.m. There is a drop box on campus next to the USU Credit Union ATM.

“We understand not everyone can make it in on Election Day, and so we’re ecstatic to give people the opportunity to come in on a schedule that better meets their needs and provide them that in-person experience in addition to that ballot in their mailbox,” Chatterton said.

Early voting and Election Day have laws and state codes around them, like how long an early voting period is and who is eligible. To be eligible to vote in Utah, a student must be a U.S. citizen who has lived in Utah for at least 30 days before the election and be 18 years-old on or before Election Day.

“The state code requires an early vote period of a minimum of four days,” Chatterton said. “We’d like to provide for more days, but the current numbers just don’t justify that quite yet, and we would be elated if they did.”

Two USU students, Owen Nebeker and Nate Areno, commented about how they felt having an early voting center on campus.

“It’s really nice in that I didn’t have to travel too far away from campus to be able to vote,” Areno said. “I was still able to participate, so I wasn’t part of the population that didn’t get a say. I was able to put in my own vote and my own opinions.”

Students felt having a voting center on campus allows students with limited transportation an easier opportunity to vote.  

“I think it’s awesome,” Nebeker said. “I think it gives more of an opportunity for students to go out and vote. It gives — and I think it being advertised in the TSC as, ‘vote over here’ — it incentivizes more students to go and vote. I think it’s important for as many people to vote as possible.” 

Voting early in Utah is important with the change to mail-in ballots. In order for mail in ballots to be counted, they must be received by the county clerk by 8 p.m. on Nov. 3. Postmarks stamped before then but received afterwards will no longer be counted.  

Students who didn’t vote in the early voting period at USU can look for an opportunity to vote on Election Day Nov. 3.  

“Everything will be consolidated into one vote center at the Cache County Event Center at the fairgrounds,” Chatterton said. “We’ll be there from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. providing the exact same service as we are here.” 

The Cache County Event Center is located at 490 S 500 W in Logan and is near the Logan Aquatic Center.  

Voters who are curious about the status of their ballot can check it on https://vote.utah.gov/track-my-ballot/. Voters may also sign up on that same page to receive ballot notifications.