SALT LAKE CITY – When Sherrie Swensen first ran for Salt Lake County Clerk in 1990, she was frustrated with the voter registration system. After taking office, she began putting voter registration forms everywhere she could – in grocery stores, laundromats, apartment complexes – anywhere that would let her use counter space.
“I decided that I was going to make voter registration available and accessible to everyone I could,” Swensen said. “And it worked. We registered people in record numbers. I did outreach at boat shows and home improvement shows and high schools, senior centers and basically just approaching people and offering that and helping them get registered to vote.”
Swensen said she was especially interested in getting young people registered.
“I often would say to them, ‘We are making decisions that will affect your world for a lot longer than it will affect my world. And you need to care, and you need to be registered to vote. You need to look at candidates and issues and decide what matters to you,’” she said.
Come back Aug. 20 to see the full News21 report on “Voting Wars.”
