As voters fill the nearly 135,000 ballots distributed across the county out and contemplate how to best submit them, Weber County Clerk/Auditor Ricky Hatch is making sure people know the process and that their ballots are safe.

One of his main pieces of advice in an email to the Standard-Examiner is to get a move on filling out your ballot as soon as it arrives.

“Start early,” he said. ” Research the candidates and issues, mark your ballot, sign your envelope, write the last four numbers of your Utah Driver License or SSN and drop them in a secure drop box. If you make a mistake on your ballot, correct it in a way that would be obvious to poll workers who will review it.  If you’re unsure or have additional questions, give us a call.”

In addition to mailing ballots back, he said there are 22 secure drop boxes throughout the county for residents to drop their completed ballots off at, or they have the option of dropping them off at the Weber Center during business hours. And finally, ballots can also be submitted straight to the two voting centers — Ogden Valley Branch of the Weber County Library and the Weber County Fairgrounds Exhibit Hall.

Hatch said the 30 election workers and other local officials with the county are doing all they can to make sure the election is conducted smoothly and securly.

“We continue to build upon multiple layers of security to ensure that Weber County’s elections are accurate, secure, and fully transparent,” he said. “This involves extensive chain of custody processes whenever a ballot is touched, moved or processed, video footage, GPS tracking, reconciliations, logs, multiple public audits before, during and after the election, posting our processing schedule online, inviting observers to watch at any time.”

He said the public is always free to view the process as it happens.

“We’re honored to help Weber County’s voters make their voices heard in a secure, transparent, accurate manner,” he said. “We’re not asking you to trust us, we want you to come observe the process and see for yourself.”

Hatch said turnout in Weber County is predicted to be around 65% for the Nov. 3 election.

For more information, visit https://www.weberelections.gov/.