COALVILLE, Utah — Just hours before Election Day, the Summit County Clerk's Office announced it would be in quarantine due to exposure to COVID-19.
"We haven't had a positive test yet, but we have the exposure," Summit County Clerk Kent Jones said in an interview with FOX 13 on Monday. "We made the decision to not go into work today and tomorrow and we already have been processing ballots."
The bulk of the county's ballots have already been processed before the COVID-19 exposure happened, Jones said. Approximately 18,000 were received by Oct. 30. Jones said they mailed out approximately 28,000 to active registered voters in Summit County.
Every ballot will be counted, but the outstanding ones will not be until after Election Day. Under Utah law, county clerks have two weeks from Election Day to process ballots and count them.
"As soon as we are able to be cleared, as long as nobody comes down sick, we'll go ahead and complete the ballot process," Jones said. "We're a small office and out of concern for our other workers that have been coming in and helping us, the decision was made to halt today and tomorrow and then we'll have plenty of time if we're cleared by the end of the week."
Summit County residents who have yet to drop off their ballots can do so until 8 p.m. Tuesday at the following locations:
Coalville City Hall
Summit County Services Building
Park City Municipal Building
The Market at Park City
Sheldon Richins Building
Fresh Market - Jeremy Ranch
A drive-through vote center will be available on election day from 7:00 am to 8:00 pm at the Summit County Fairgrounds in Coalville for anyone needing assistance with a replacement ballot and for same-day registration.