Utah's municipal primary elections happen in August, meaning voter turnout is key
It's off-year election time again, meaning residents in St. George and other Utah cities and towns are already preparing for the all-important primary elections.
In many Utah municipalities, the Aug. 15 primary will whittle down the field of candidates for city and town councils.
Who moves on to the general election on Nov. 7 could largely depend on how many voters choose to cast a ballot.
Municipal elections, held on odd-numbered years untethered to larger federal and state races, often see small voter turnout numbers. Primaries, held in early August and often involving large numbers of little-known candidates, tend to be even smaller.
Turnout increasing with vote-by-mail
The voter turnout rate for all of Washington County has risen in recent elections, according to numbers kept by election clerks. The turnout for all municipalities was 42.41% in 2021, up from 40.47% in 2019.
The number varied widely between different cities and towns. For example, in Apple Valley the turnout rate was 63.17%, while in Santa Clara it was 35.07%.
While numbers are much lower than what is typically expected during even-numbered years, when presidential races and other national and state contests attract more people to cast ballots, they are much better than was counted in recent history. As recently as 2017, the municipal election in St. George saw just 10.9% turnout, while neighboring Washington City counted just 12.8%. And those low numbers were common — in 2015, it was 10.2% in St. George and 9.6% in Washington City.
This article originally appeared on St. George Spectrum & Daily News: Utah's municipal primary elections happen in August
