Utah’s decades-long decline in voter participation has been helped by recent efforts to make it easier for residents to cast their ballots, especially in areas where by-mail ballots have become the standard, according to a new report analyzing the results of November’s municipal elections.
Voter turnout in the 70 cities and towns that used vote-by-mail this year saw an average increase in turnout of 39 percent when compared to the last off-year municipal election in 2011, according to a new report from the Utah Foundation, a nonpartisan think-tank based in Salt Lake City.
Other efforts, including early voting, online voter registration and public outreach, have also helped keep turnout from dropping further, the report found, although the long-term trends often seen as causes for lower participation still present a challenge, said Mallory Bateman, the Utah Foundation research analyst who authored the report.
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