Governor's exit from the race, Utah voter turnout, ballot tracking

SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — October 25 Take 2 Podcast hosted by Heidi Hatch, along with Maura Carabello of Exoro Group and Rep. Tyler Clancy.

Listen to the podcast:

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Rich Lyman, a candidate for governor, is dropping out due to litigation

Rich Lyman drops out of the governor's race and hires a lawyer.

He said in a statement: “It is with deep sadness that we withdraw our names from the ballot as candidates for governor and lieutenant governor of the great state of Utah. Even before we filed our candidacy, there was already a plan to throw us out of the race. This plan culminated in a frivolous lawsuit that we simply cannot afford to fight. The allegations in this lawsuit are false and we want to make it abundantly clear that we have done nothing wrong or broken any laws. We have every right to run for governor and lieutenant governor and should not have been driven out by people with deeper pockets.”

Voter turnout in Utah was 16% statewide as of Friday, October 25th.

San Juan County has the highest returns, although Maura Carabello isn't impressed with the overall numbers.

“To be honest, I thought we would do a little better the first week,” she said.

Clancy said voters can take their time because there is a lot to vote on this time.

He voted personally.

“I'm very old-fashioned. I always go. I still love the pomp and circumstance. . . I just fill out the ballot there. It’s old-fashioned but I like it, it brings a little patriotism,” he said.

While voter turnout in Utah isn't breaking records, some states are seeing record highs – and in the battleground states, Republican early voter turnout has increased.

Utah voters can now receive text updates to track their ballot

Washington County works to ensure ballots are postmarked on time and avoids traveling to Las Vegas unless necessary

Carabello quickly recognized the work of the Washington County Clerk to make improvements.

“Ryan Sullivan just did a masterful job creating a meaningful community conversation. He has chaired various forums. He addressed the criticism and concerns directly,” she said.

Clancy said of the effort in Washington County, “I think anything that helps build trust in our elections is incredibly important.” That's really the work that's going on in reform, and really just trying to to find the refined process of how we build that trust.”

New Utah poll numbers looking at Utah voters from Noble Predictive Insights

Survey results can be found here.

Top Issues in Utah: Affordable Housing, Inflation, Immigration, Taxes

51% of voters surveyed believe Utah is headed in the wrong direction

Cox Consent: Few really love him, few really hate him

US Senate/US House of Representatives

CNN reports: “Recent polls, including new polls from Tuesday, show that 2024 could produce something never before seen in American history: The House of Representatives could flip from Republican to Democratic control, while the Senate could shift from Democratic could switch to Republican control.”

New homeless resource center in Utah with 1,200 approved beds

The Utah campus is modeled after a resource center in San Antonio, Texas, called Haven for Hope.

The center will not only house homeless people, but also provide on-site resources.

Wayne Niederhauser, Utah's homeless coordinator, said the old Road Home in the Rio Grande area was a central location but had very limited local resources.

Carabello noted that people can be nervous about homeless centers coming to new communities, but points to Haven for Hope.

“They've seen property values in the area go up, they've seen crime go down, you can live successfully in these environments,” she said.

Clancy has listened to the conversations surrounding the new center and said it will be a “campus model, not a warehouse model.”

For Carabello: “This is a moment of optimism when I have been incredibly pessimistic about our performance for several years. And my caveat with homelessness is always not to criticize the individual people who are doing their jobs, because they all work really hard. So it’s difficult when you want to talk about something, but you really want to say: I’m not accusing any of the current players.”

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