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Exit polls from BYU show Democrat Jim Matheson winning by a wide margin in his rematch against Jim Swallow for Utah's Second Congressional District.
Matheson will win over Republican Swallow by 58 percent to 40 percent, according to predictions compiled by Brigham Young University students and based on polling station exit interviews with voters across the state.
The same exit polls, released moments after Utah balloting closed at 8 p.m., also show Republican Jon Huntsman Jr. beating Scott Matheson Jr., by 57 percent to 42 percent. Matheson enjoyed more than twice the party crossover vote that Huntsman did, according to the polls. About 8 percent of Democrats went for Huntsman, compared to 18 percent of Republicans voting for Matheson.
The race for Salt Lake County mayor was too close to call, the BYU polls found. In that race, Democrat Peter Corroon was given 47 percent compared to 46 percent for Republican Ellis Ivory-- virtually no difference within the poll's margin of error. Independent Merrill Cook won only 5 percent in that race, the polls said.
Also too close to call was Initiative 1, which called for a one-twentieth of a cent increase in the sales tax, to fund a $150 million bond for preserving open space, promoting clean air and water, and building state parks and government buildings. The BYU polls show it passing by 52 percent, also within the margin of error.
The numbers show a controversial proposal to amend Utah's constitution to ban gay marriage winning by 62 percent. So-called Amendment 3 defines marriage as only between a man and a woman and denies legal standing to any other kind of domestic union. The measure has sparked high emotion. While Utahns generally oppose same-sex marriage, opponents said the measure threatened Utah's common law marriage statute, as well as inheritance and health insurance benefits for unmarried heterosexual couples.
The exit poll data indicated Republicans were nearly as likely to vote for Amendment 3 as Democrats were to vote against it, with 81 percent of GOP voters favoring the measure and 78 percent of Democrats in opposition.
Utahns voted in large numbers Tuesday, drawn by some races that were hotly contested and others that were all but sure to go to Republicans.
State Elections Director Amy Naccarato said preliminary returns Tuesday afternoon showed slightly more than three-quarters of the state's nearly 1.2 million registered voters were casting ballots-- a high figure by recent standards but below the 1992 turnout of 81 percent. That figure could be exceeded, Naccarato said, depending on voting after people left work.
Balloting will determine the outcome in races ranging from U.S. Senate, Congress and Utah governor to a host of state legislative races, school board posts and several controversial propositions and initiatives.
President Bush was certain to receive all of Utah's five electoral votes. In fact, the Beehive state also could deliver the largest state margin in the nation to Bush, as it did in 2000.
The BYU numbers showed Bush winning Utah by 71 percent.
Incumbents U.S. Sen. Bob Bennett, First District Rep. Rob Bishop and Third District Rep. Chris Cannon-- all Republicans-- appeared certain to recapture their seats, according to the BYU exit polls.
Their margins were projected as follows: Bishop, 72 percent; Bennett, 69 percent; and Cannon, 59 percent.