Show Frustrated voters deal with w-ith lon long lines Sean Patrick Contributing Writer State Referendum 1 has been beena a hot topic of debate for Utah residents over the past few months After huge debates television commercials and public relations spins it was finally time for the voters to have their say on the topic of school vouchers on Tuesday But having their say was easier said than done While most voters were expecting to little to no wait time many were surprised to see packed parking lots tired volunteers and huge lines when going to cast their ballot Many voters waited in lines for half an hour or more on Tuesday The long lines were caused by bythe bythe bythe the combining of several voting precincts for this ballot In sev several ral polling locations lines stretched out the door They didn't realize that it takes the same time to check people in said Krista Petersen a volunteer at a polling location in Holladay Weve had a long line all day and its it's only going to get worse as people get off of work Volunteers were expected to keep poll locations open from 7 am a.m. to 8 pm p.m. on Tuesday and the thelong thelong thelong long lines and frustrated people made for a very long day Ive never worked a polling location like this before said Petersen Normally we only have one precinct precinct we we had to work six today When voters made it though the thelong thelong thelong long lines they were relieved to see the short ballot and the ease of using the electronic touch-screen touch voting system While Salt Lake City voters voted in the mayoral race surrounding cities in Utah only had to decide Referendum Is I's fate or city council members Referendum 1 is known as House Bill The referendum focuses on using taxpayer dollars to make educational vouchers available to Utah families According to the Salt Lake Tribune Gov Jon Huntsman Jr had signed this tins bill into law but the bill was forced into a voter referendum due to a signatures gathered by the Utah Education Association According to the referendums referendum's supporters these v vouchers to tc allow families to rece receive receive vc financial assistance or 01 credit gat private te schools This would allow families who need assistance to send their child to a special needs school Referendum 1 I Continued on AS Referendum 1 defeated Continued from A Al Alor I or a private school to better suit their students student's needs Supporters also claim that it will decrease class sizes in public schools allowing teachers more time to cater to individual students' students needs Those against th the me referendum claim ti that t the vouchers take much h needed money out t of fi public schools schoos The They c claim claims nt that the referendum h harms the public sc school o systems system's ability to offer a quality education Those agai against st the referendum also claim that the referendum w will vill II become a too tool for cultural division I had no idea there would be such a turnout said Petersen We Ve have had over I 1600 registered voters show up to vote Ive I've never had more than 8 O people show up in a day This was a popular ballot Referendum 1 was defeated by a 60 percent against vote |