Utah’s politicsThe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the dominant religion of the state, has a lot to offer. Its majority population and large number of its politicians are members.
Republicans hold all statewide offices, including the four U.S. House of Representatives seats and supermajorities at the state House of Representatives.
However, it is worth noting that polling among members of the faith revealed former Donald Trump usually commands lessNumerous prominent GOP politicians have received more support than Mitt Romney. Utah elected Mitt Romney as the U.S. Senate President four years ago. This shows that there is a way to win for Republicans who are willing to criticize Trump even in red states.
In this year’s midterms, Democrat-backed independent Evan McMullin is hoping to harness anti-Trump sentiment to unseat Sen. Mike Lee, a second-term Republican first elected in the 2010 Tea Party wave.
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Lee has transformed from being a Trump critic to one of his staunchest supporters. McMullin has hammered Lee for texts messages he exchanged with White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows in November 2020, where the two discuss efforts to challenge President Joe Biden’s victory. Lee insists he was simply researching his role as a certifier of the results prior to Jan. 6.
In prior elections, Utah’s 4th Congressional District has also been a key contest for both parties jockeying for control of Washington. However, political maps approved by the Republican-controlled Legislature during last year’s once-in-a-decade redistricting process added Republicans and subtracted Democrats from the historic swing district.
Although Utah has seen a large population increase, much like Arizona, Nevada and Colorado, it has not experienced the political transformations that occurred in other states. In those states, Democrats have made progress and won significant electoral victories in recent times. Salt Lake City and its suburbs are influenced by the Democratic Party. However, most of the state is dominated by Republicans and the statewide races are not competitive.
Here’s a look at what to expect on election night:
Election Night
At 8 p.m. (local time), polls close. ET).
How Utah Votes
Utah Republicans want to defend a U.S. Senate Seat and four U.S. House Seats. All eyes are set on Evan McMullin (Democrat-backed Independent), who is trying to unseat GOP senator Mike Lee.
Utah is the only Republican state to send all active voters their mail-in ballots during the weeks leading to every election. Although many counties had conducted “all mail elections” over the past decade, Utah changed to a statewide vote by-mail program in 2019. This choice is extremely popular with 92% casting mail ballots for 2020.
It’s unclear how nationwide skepticism toward voting by-mail will affect turnout in Utah. A fringe group representing Republicans in the Legislature had proposed that vote by-mail be ended earlier this year. However, the idea was not able to gain momentum or move beyond the committee chair after Republican Governor. Spencer Cox and most legislators opposed it.
You can return your ballots to the polling stations or drop them off at the designated locations throughout the state or send them by mail. In-person voting is also available in Utah during the two weeks before and on Election Day. Register eligible voters at any of the early voting locations and at the polling places on Election Day.
Partial results are typically reported in batches, and begin being announced immediately after the polls close. They’re updated throughout election night and in the following days. It’s common for reporting not to be complete until days later.
Decision Notes
Utah’s population is centered along the Wasatch Front, in the corridor along the Wasatch Mountain Range from Ogden in the north to Provo in the south. This state is reliably Republican.
Race calling will focus on the U.S. Senate race, and what happens in Salt Lake County. It’s the most populous county and the one where Democrats and left-leaning independents cluster.
But it’s also a county that reports votes slowly. In 2020, 40% of the county’s votes weren’t counted until after Election Day. If the Lee-McMullin race is close in the first hours after polls close, that’s likely where it will be decided, and it may not be called until days later.
If the margin between the top candidates in a statewide race or U.S. House race is less than 0.5%, the AP could call it.
The AP will not count down the ballots for races that are less than 2% between the top two contenders or if a leading candidate is within 2% from the 50% threshold. The AP will revisit those races later in the week to confirm there aren’t enough outstanding votes left to count that could change the outcome.
Utah law permits mandatory recountsIf the difference between the candidates is less or equal than one quarter of one per cent of the total votes cast or if it is less or equal 400 votes.
What else should I know?
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Republicans nationwide cast doubt on the security of mail-in ballots, yet Utah lawmakers elected to maintain the state’s universal vote-by-mail system. They passed several measures to address this issue. Fears about election security.
The Republican-majority statehouse has passed measures to place ballot drop boxes under 24-hour monitoring and to standardize the reporting schedule to allow county clerks to release the number remaining to be counted each day. They tightened voter ID laws, making it easier to opt out of receiving mail ballots.
