Salt Lake County has processed about 77,000 early ballots, putting the county's turnout at 9.9% and 1.6 percentage points ahead of the statewide average, The Salt Lake Tribune reported Saturday.

Salt Lake County Clerk Lannie Chapman called the pace "really good," the Tribune reported. Statewide, about 8.3% of ballots had been processed as of Oct. 23, according to a Threads post by Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson, who oversees state elections. Utah had 1.79 million active voters as of Oct. 19, according to Henderson's office, the Tribune reported.

Those numbers reflect only ballots that clerks have processed, not every ballot returned.

For Cottonwood Heights and Holladay residents still holding a mail ballot, two nearby drop boxes are open seven days a week through 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 3: Cottonwood Heights City Hall at 2277 E. Bengal Blvd. and Holladay City Hall at 4580 S. 2300 East, according to the county's official bond election notice.

Voters who prefer to cast a ballot in person can visit the Whitmore Library at 2197 Fort Union Blvd. in Cottonwood Heights from Oct. 27 through Oct. 30, 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Salt Lake County is also offering Saturday early voting for the first time on Oct. 31, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Salt Lake County Government Center, 2001 S. State Street in Salt Lake City, ABC4 reported.

On Election Day, Nov. 3, vote centers open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Local options include the Cottonwood Heights City Hall Cullimore Community Room and the Holladay Library large meeting room at 2150 E. Murray Holladay Road.

One rule change this year: mail-ballot voters must write the last four digits of their driver's license, state ID or Social Security number on the return envelope, KSL reported. The requirement does not apply to in-person voting. Ballots must also arrive at the clerk's office by 8 p.m. on Nov. 3. A postmark alone no longer counts.

Chapman told KSL that 90% of Salt Lake County voters who participate in an election use their mail ballot. The county mailed roughly 600,000 ballots this cycle.

The higher local turnout comes as Salt Lake County sits inside a redrawn congressional district that the Tribune described as the state's first reliably blue seat in decades, following a court-ordered redistricting. No official has publicly attributed the county's faster pace to the new map.

Henderson, in an interview with Utah News Dispatch, encouraged voters concerned about going to in-person polling locations to use drop boxes ahead of Election Day. "If we have more people voting early and getting those ballots processed early, we'll have more robust results on election night anyway," she said.

Voters can track their ballot at vote.utah.gov or contact the Salt Lake County Clerk's Election Division at (385) 468-7400.