Residents of Harrisville, Hooper, Marriott-Slaterville, North Ogden, Plain City, Pleasant View, Riverdale and Roy will also cast ballots for city council and/or mayoral races.

As of July 1, there were 132,343 active registered voters countywide. Heading into the election, the Weber County Clerk/Auditor’s Office had projected a 34% turnout from 94,032 ballots that were mailed out. As of Wednesday evening, the county had received 11,301 ballots, 9,377 of which had been processed.

The average turnout countywide to that point was 12.5%; leading the way was Ogden Valley, with 23.4% turnout as of Wednesday. Weber County Clerk/Auditor Ricky Hatch told the Standard-Examiner on Friday that turnout in the upper valley could reach as high as 50% or more. Meanwhile, countywide turnout was trending toward a slightly lower mark than was projected.

“It seems we’re a little bit slower, a little bit behind that, but not too far — looking at still low 30s for turnout estimates,” Hatch said. “With all elections, generally, about half of the ballots come in the Monday before Election Day and on Election Day. That’s when you see about half the ballots. And it’s pretty consistent, whether it’s a municipal primary or a presidential election.”

Hatch said that in the years before the county mailed out ballots, the turnout for municipal elections typically fell in the single digits. And while the turnout has hovered around that 30% mark since that change was made, residents are now contending with earlier voting deadlines. As such, Hatch is advising voters to get their ballots in as soon as possible.

“It has to be either in a drop box or in our office by 8 p.m. on Election Night. That’s the biggest change that is going to impact voters this year,” Hatch said.

Secure ballot drop boxes are located at all city offices, county library branches and Weber State University. Although early in-person voting ended Friday, voters will also have another opportunity to cast their ballots in person on Election Day. Residents may vote in person from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Tuesday at either the Weber Center’s basement-level vote center at 2380 Washington Boulevard or the Ogden Valley Branch Library at 131 S. 7400 East in Huntsville.

According to Hatch, only 15 in-person ballots had been cast as of Wednesday.

Regardless of how one chooses to vote, though, and despite the lower turnout for municipal elections, Hatch emphasized that the county’s commitment to security remains the same as in November’s general election and all other elections.

“We look at what the risks are in great detail and then we have identified the safeguards that are in place to mitigate those risks, to either detect them or prevent them,” Hatch said. “We’ve worked really hard on this over the years, including making significant changes to state law. I feel really comfortable, really confident in the level of controls that we have, that this election will be accurate.”

He also implored anyone with concerns about ballot processing to come see the process for themselves.

“If people have any questions or any concerns, we would love to give them a tour of our process; have them come observe,” Hatch said. “Our audits are done in publicly-noticed meetings. The ballot processing is always open to poll watchers. They can just come in and observe at any time. We want to be absolutely transparent in everything that we do.”

For more information on how/where to vote, candidates, a breakdown of a ballot’s “life cycle” and more, go to https://www.weberelections.gov/.