Utah
Early Utah voter turnout low, but lieutenant governor says there’s still time
Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson speaks at an occasion in Salt Lake Metropolis on Jan. 19. Henderson stated Friday early voter turnout forward of subsequent week’s normal election is decrease than anticipated, and he or she inspired all Utah voters to make their voices heard. (Spenser Heaps, Deseret Information)
Estimated learn time: 4-5 minutes
SALT LAKE CITY — Early voter turnout forward of subsequent week’s normal election is decrease than anticipated and Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson inspired all Utah voters Friday to make their voices heard.
Though it is a midterm election, which generally sees decrease turnout, Henderson emphasised native elections — together with these for the Utah Legislature and county management positions — “make a direct affect on folks’s lives.”
“These are actually essential issues that folks must be taking note of and may perceive that their voice issues, and they need to need to have a say on this,” she stated.
As of seven a.m. on Friday, 22.6% of energetic registered voters have returned their ballots, based on Henderson, up from round 21% on Thursday afternoon. Iron and Carbon counties noticed vital enchancment in turnout, after they added instances for early voting because of poll delays.
Iron County’s turnout improved from 1% to 10.1% in simply two days, based on Henderson, and Carbon County elevated from 4.1% to 14.5%.
Mail-in ballots should be postmarked by Monday or they will not be counted throughout Tuesday’s election. After Monday, folks might want to go away their ballots in a drop field or vote in particular person.
As strains at in-person voting facilities could possibly be lengthy on Tuesday, Henderson inspired folks to vote early — and to be sort to election staff.
“I am relying on the goodwill and the persistence, and the understanding of Utahns all through the state. As we work by an election, it is all the time a problem for our election staff and ballot staff to do that job, and so they do that out of the goodness of their hearts and out of affection for democracy and freedom,” she stated.
Election staff haven’t obtained any current, particular threats that Henderson — who oversees elections in her position — has heard about, however she stated there’s been a “normal rumbling” with just a few folks all through the state with some receiving “fairly nasty communications.”
Regardless of a few of the unfavorable messages elections workplaces have obtained, Henderson stated most areas have not essentially elevated their safety measures.
“We actually do go away that bodily safety as much as particular person counties and polling areas,” she stated, however the majority maintain law enforcement officials on standby to make sure voter security.
“We, after all, are all the time engaged on cybersecurity and ensuring that our programs are intact and protected.”
Not one of the voting machines are ever linked to the web, Henderson famous.
Few points have been reported as early voting rolled out this yr, however Henderson introduced earlier this week that ballots for some voters in Iron and Carbon counties had been delayed because of errors by the contracted printer. She stated these residents ought to forged their votes at early voting areas.
In these counties, “we’re working in shut coordination because the clerks broaden early voting hours, open further polling locations, and put together for a bigger turnout on Election Day. Luckily, Utah election legislation gives a number of avenues for eligible voters, together with in-person early voting. I need to encourage all Utahns to vote sooner somewhat than later,” she stated in a press release on Wednesday.
In response to those that fear that elections aren’t safe, Henderson informed KSL.com: “Look, there are all the time going to be individuals who have questions, and that is OK. We’re hoping that we may help reply these questions, that we may help inform and educate the general public as to what the programs are. And we’re very assured within the integrity and safety of our programs, and the integrity of people that run them.”
She described election volunteers as “native of us,” together with stay-at-home mothers who work at poll processing facilities or voter facilities, and retired folks. Henderson stated she hopes everybody treats them with “respect and good grace.”
“These are your neighbors, your folks, folks in your communities who are available and work as a result of they need to be a part of this democratic course of, and so they discover it is essential and rewarding,” she stated.
Anybody with questions or considerations concerning the election course of can go to their native poll processing facilities and/or signal as much as watch the polls. Those that accomplish that may even find yourself signing as much as volunteer on the polls subsequent yr.
“All the issues that we do are executed within the open, they’re executed in public setting,” Henderson stated.
For extra data, together with how one can vote, go to vote.utah.gov/.
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Utah
Amid traffic, Utah walked to Leafs’ arena pregame
TORONTO — The Utah Hockey Club said players were forced to walk to their game against the Maple Leafs after their bus got stuck in Toronto traffic Sunday night.
The team posted a video on social media of team members walking to Scotiabank Arena, with player Maveric Lamoureux saying the bus was “not moving at all.”
Several city streets had been closed during the day for an annual Santa Claus parade.
The Maple Leafs earned their fourth consecutive win by defeating Utah 3-2.
The viral incident prompted Ontario Premier Doug Ford to call the congestion “embarrassing” and “unacceptable,” highlighting his government’s plan to address the city’s gridlock through bike lane legislation.
It wasn’t the first time a Toronto visitor had to ditch their vehicle to make it to an event on time.
In June, former One Direction band member Niall Horan had to walk through traffic to get to his concert at Scotiabank Arena.
Utah
Utah Highway Patrol responds to your suggestions on making Utah roads safer
SALT LAKE CITY — FOX 13 News is Driven to Change and that includes bringing you reports on important topics like road rage, construction, and wrong-way drivers. During our coverage, we continually ask for any questions or concerns you may have along Utah’s roadways.
The feedback has gotten an enormous response, so FOX 13 sat down with Lieutenant Cameron Roden on Good Day Utah to help address input we have been getting, from the perspective of Utah Highway Patrol.
Speeding in Utah, there’s so much of it, and then you can sometimes say that that leads to tailgating, which may lead to road rage incidents. What are you seeing out there in terms of speed and what can we do to lessen the effects of that?
Lt. Cameron Roden: Speed is our number one thing that we see. That’s our number one traffic stop that we make, and we know that it leads to the majority of crashes in the state of Utah. So we definitely put an emphasis on speed and it does lead to other things. Not just crashes. It leads to road rage and other things .So, as far as what changes can we make, we need to start with ourselves, and really say, ‘Hey, do I have a problem?’ You know, we just need to start with ourselves and not think that it’s something else’s problem. If we slow our speeds ourselves, and then it’ll start to to catch on and people will do that speed limit. So, but the legislature has definitely taken some steps to help us address, especially the the speeds that are those excessive speeds where we have that one zero five law now that addresses those speeds and increases fines and and hopefully discourages people from those extreme speeds.
Some of our viewers talked about maybe capping some of the speed limits for truck drivers. Is that something that’s even feasible?
You know, that would be something that would have to go through that, that legislative process to see whether we that would be something that would help. But ultimately, if we we start with ourselves, hopefully that will make that change and reduce crashes and fatalities.
There are things being done to try and intervene and stop wrong-way drivers before they happen. But some of our viewers propose things like spikes. What are your thoughts on implementing something like that?
We’ve had over the last several years, a rash of wrong-way drivers, and it’ll come in onesie twos, and then we’ll go for a period of time without that. And so, but this spike over the last couple of years has caused us to to create a task force to look at wrongly driving what things can be done. And so getting all these stakeholders together between UDOT and Highway Safety, looking at what technologies and things that could be implemented, and and things like, wrong way detection cameras. Those are some things that are being actually used in the state of Utah right now to help us spot those and and advance signage, getting people to realize they’re going the wrong way and turn around. The the spike strips have actually been talked about in our task force a little bit. And if something like that would even be, it is that technology available right now. And as what we could actually implement in the state of Utah, there’s nothing that really fits the bill right now because of our environment. We have our snow plows. We have snow and things like that. Something like that really wouldn’t be practical right now.
Probably the most talked about topic that we’ve received was distracted driving, texting while driving. You went out, I saw on the UHP social media page, that you guys just driving and you look to your right and left and you can find someone texting. What kind of enforcement do we have against distracted driving specifically on your phone?
This is something that we like you said, we see it every day. We go out to crashes,and and we may suspect that a driver may be distracted. And so, it’s something that’s definitely under-reported. It’s it’s a bigger problem than than the numbers really show.And so not only do we address it during our normal patrols.Our officers are seeing it, and addressing it while they’re out there.But we’ll also do targeted patrols where the highway safety office actually gives out additional funds for that targeted enforcement, where we’ll get an unmarked vehicle. We go out driving down the roads where we try to spot these vehicles and and get them stopped because those are those are a big danger on our roadways where our attention and our focus needs to be on driving.
If you have ideas or suggestions for how to make Utah’s roadways safer click here to be taken to our Driven to Change form. There you can share your ideas or suggestions.
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Utah
Utah National Guard gets new, top-of-the-line Apache helicopters
WEST JORDAN, Utah — The Utah National Guard has been serving the state since 1894 with roots dating back to the Minutemen of the 17th-century American colonies.
This weekend, they received quite the boost in the form of the Army’s most advanced attack helicopter.
“These aircraft are extremely fast compared to our other aircraft,” said Col. Patrick.
On Saturday, the Utah National Guard took their new Apache helicopters for a spin.
“The flight went better than we could have hoped for. A little weather on the east coast, but after that, it wasn’t bad at all,” Patrick said.
The first four of 24 Apaches arrived early Saturday morning after they went under full inspection.
“They’ve got software on there that it’s like playing a video game. You just fly the video game and the airplane… is fast and smooth, which is the good thing, and so it’ll just hold the altitude and airspeed and just keep on trucking along. It’s pretty good,” Patrick said.
The first Apache helicopters arrived in Utah back in 1992.
“It just continues the legacy of the air pirates and what we bring to not only Utah, but really to the global fight and security, really,” Patrick added.
The colonel calls it a major step forward.
“What a great day for Utah as we advance into the next couple decades of combat operations and what we can provide to, you know, the global security.”
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