Democrats Vote in Utah, Hawaii, Idaho

S A L T   L A K E   C I T Y, Feb. 24, 2004 -- Turnout for the Utah Democraticpresidential primary exceeded projections and had party officialsscrambling late today to print more ballots to accommodate thepeople who still want to vote, party chief Donald Dunn said.

"We just had no idea. We have gone through all the ballots weprepared," Dunn said this evening. In Salt Lake County alone,the party printed 5,000 extra ballots this afternoon, he said.

At the library in St. George, at least 600 people had voted by5:30 p.m., said volunteer election judge Lolita Hagio. Volunteersthere called the Salt Lake City headquarters to get an extra blockof ballot numbers, she said.

"We are so busy. It's incredible. Right now, I'm photocopyingballots," Hagio said. "We ran out of ballots at 3 o'clock. Thisis totally phenomenal down here. They were lined up at 11:30 and wehadn't even set up the tables yet."

And that's just at one of five Washington County polling places,she said.

While most of the voters have been Democrats, "we do have someRepublicans. They admitted they were, and they were eager to have achange in the administration," Hagio said.

Turnout Heavy Across the State

It was the same story in the capital city. Though the poll atthe downtown City Library wasn't supposed to open until noon, butby that time the 20 people lined up to vote in Utah's Democraticprimary were getting restless. So volunteers James Sewell andDanielle Torp dropped the rope.

A half-hour later, the line stretched about 100 yards across thelibrary lobby and out the door with city voters eager to castballots for their favorite Democratic presidential candidate in alargely symbolic election in an indisputably Republican state.

Though he was still in line with his lunch break over, BlakeSarlow enjoyed the crowd. "Three blocks from Temple Square andthere's a giant line of Democrats," he said. "It's just thecraziest thing."

Sarlow's 33-year-old co-worker Kathy Locke said today was thefirst time she'd ever ventured so close to a voting booth."Politics are mumbo-jumbo," she said. "Bush is turning me ontopolitics. He's got to be stopped."

The Utah Democratic Committee is paying for the primary becausemajority Republican lawmakers last year refused to appropriatestate funds for the election. Polls were set up at 110 libraries,town halls, senior centers and even an electric building in 26 of29 counties.

"We are just delighted with the turnout," said Dunn, who hadjust returned from voting at the city library. "The sentiment inline has been, anybody but Bush. ... The other thing it shows isthat people in Utah are tired of the imbalance and want a two-partysystem."

Dunn said the party printed 50,000 ballots. Volunteers inWashington County, Provo, Logan, South Jordan, West Jordan andWeber County all reported running out. "In Sandy the box is sofull they don't know where to put more ballots," he said.

Republicans Also Voting

State Republican Party chief Joe Cannon said he, too, wassurprised at the turnout in St. George, especially given RepublicanJohn Swallow's Washington County trouncing of Democratic Rep. JimMatheson in the 2002 2nd Congressional District race.

Cannon said he had joked at the GOP state central committeemeeting Saturday that "we should all go out and vote for HowardDean. Everybody laughed. I laughed," he said. The St. Georgeturnout could mean that Republicans want to vote for a Democrat, hesaid.

"I wouldn't be surprised that a lot of Republicans like JohnEdwards," Cannon said.

Turnout was tiny in conservative Eagle Mountain, where theprimary drew just four voters in the election's first three hours,said volunteer Candy Bateman.

Eagle Mountain resident Louis Porras said he was voting becausehe's concerned for the country.

"There's just so many things that have happened, from stealingthe election on out, this country has gone in a downward spiral,"he said. "I've never seen this country, even during Vietnam years, as divided as it is today."Motivated by Change

Dissatisfaction with the president seemed a big reason for theunexpectedly large turnout.

"My friend Frank was like, they're having a primary, I waslike, I've got to vote," said Salt Lake City resident JaimeCogswell. "I'm pretty tired of the way things are going."

In Springdale, a known Democratic enclave according to pollworker Julie McKown, 34 voters showed up at the Town Hall pollingplace by 3 p.m. "We can tell they're Democrats when they come inthe door because each one has something smart to say," she said."'Burn the Bush' seems to be the local slogan."

Voters didn't need to be registered Democrats — or evenregistered at all — to cast ballots. They did have to signstatements that they wouldn't be part of another party's nominatingprocess.

The first vote counts were expected at 8 p.m., when absenteeresults are released, said election director Arlyn Bradshaw. Theballots will be hand-counted, and poll workers will phone inresults to party headquarters in Salt Lake City.

The 23 Utah delegate votes at stake will be apportioned at thestate convention in May. Utah officials say holding a primary herejust a week before the March 2 Super Tuesday votes would help withelection momentum. Hawaii and Idaho also were holding Democraticcaucuses today.

The Utah ballot includes U.S. Sens. John Edwards and John Kerry;Rep. Dennis Kucinich, and former candidates Howard Dean, WesleyClark, Dick Gephardt and Joe Lieberman.