SALT LAKE CITY -- In the basement of the Salt Lake County government complex, election workers are sorting, stacking and validating thousands of uncounted mail-in ballots.
These are the 20,000 mail-in ballots that beat Monday's postmark deadline or the 23,855 that were hand-delivered to polling locations on Tuesday. There are also provisional ballots still uncounted from same-day voter registration and Election Day itself.
Salt Lake County election workers process thousands of uncounted mail-in ballots on Wednesday, Nov. 4. (Photo via Ben Winslow)
The ballots will affect elections across Salt Lake County, including Proposition 1 and the hotly-contested Salt Lake City mayor's race between Ralph Becker and Jackie Biskupski.
"If they're close, absolutely," Salt Lake County Clerk Sherrie Swensen said. "We've got obviously thousands of ballots yet to be processed. People were dropping ballots off last night up until 8 p.m."
While FOX 13 was observing the ballot process, Biskupksi -- who has a lead over Becker -- walked in to see it for herself. She left without commenting, but her campaign said she remained optimistic that she would prevail.
Salt Lake City Mayor-Elect Jackie Biskupski observes the ballot validation process during a tour of the Salt Lake County Election facilities on Wednesday, Nov. 4. (Photo via Ben Winslow)
Biskupski leads Becker 52 to 47 percent in unofficial results released around 10 p.m. Tuesday. But everyone will have to wait until November 17 to know the actual results, when ballots are canvassed and elections are made official.
"State law doesn't allow us to present results in-between," Swensen said.
