Federal · Depends on your address
U.S. House of Representatives, District 3
1 · term: 2 years
What it decides. One vote of 435 on federal law, federal spending and confirmation of nothing (that is the Senate). The practical local work of a House office is casework -- passports, veterans' benefits, immigration files, Social Security problems -- and federal land, which in Utah is most of the map.
Where it appears. Provo and Orem are in District 3. Every one of Provo's 63 voting precincts and Orem's 56 carried the District 3 contest at the June primary.
Why it matters this year. The district number did not change for Provo, but the person almost certainly will. Court-ordered redistricting redrew Utah's map for 2026, and the representative who currently holds this seat filed in District 4 instead.
Our guide to this part of local government →
Federal · Depends on your address
U.S. House of Representatives, District 4
1 · term: 2 years
What it decides. Identical to District 3 -- a single House vote and a casework office. The difference is which set of neighbors you share a representative with.
Where it appears. Part of Utah County sits in District 4 rather than District 3. The county publishes separate District 4 Northern and Southern map sets alongside three for District 3, which is the clearest published evidence that the county is divided. Where the line falls is a question for the county's precinct lookup, not for a guide.
Why it matters this year. Roughly 26,000 Utah County ballots at the June primary did not carry the District 3 contest. If you assume you know your district because you knew it in 2024, check.
State · Depends on your address
Utah State Senate
5 districts in Utah County · term: 4 years
What it decides. State law, the state budget, and confirmation of the governor's appointees. In practice the legislature also sets what cities and school districts may and may not do, which is why a state race decides more about your street than most people expect.
Where it appears. Senate districts 11, 18, 19, 21 and 23 have 2026 contests in Utah County. Senate terms are staggered, so the other districts that reach into the county are not up this year.
Why it matters this year. Utah's legislature meets for 45 days a year and passes several hundred bills. Two of the election bills that reached the governor's desk in 2026 were sponsored by Utah County legislators.
State · Depends on your address
Utah House of Representatives
16 districts in Utah County · term: 2 years
What it decides. The same statutory power as the Senate, in a chamber of 75 rather than 29. Bills die in committee here more often than anywhere else in the building.
Where it appears. House districts 50 through 58 and 60 through 66 appear on Utah County ballots. Every seat in the Utah House is up every two years.
Why it matters this year. This is the most locally responsive office on the ballot and the one most often decided by a small number of votes. Several of these districts drew only one general-election candidate.
State · Depends on your address
Utah State Board of Education
2 districts in Utah County · term: 4 years
What it decides. Statewide standards, graduation requirements, teacher licensing and the rules local districts operate under. It does not run your child's school; it sets the frame the district works inside.
Where it appears. State board districts 11 and 14 carry 2026 contests here. Both are multi-county seats, so your neighbors two towns over may be voting on the same one.
Why it matters this year. State board races became partisan in Utah and are now decided in party primaries most voters skip. The general election is the second look.
Our guide to this part of local government →
Utah County · On every Utah County ballot
Utah County Commission, Seat A
1 · term: 4 years
What it decides. One of three votes on the county budget, county land use outside city limits, the jail, the health department and the sheriff's funding. The commission is simultaneously the county's legislative and executive branch, which is unusual and is why three people carry so much.
Where it appears. Countywide. Every Utah County voter gets this one.
Why it matters this year. Two of the three commission seats are on this ballot at once, so a majority of the body turns over in a single night.
Our guide to this part of local government →
Utah County · On every Utah County ballot
Utah County Commission, Seat B
1 · term: 4 years
What it decides. Identical authority to Seat A. Seats are lettered rather than districted -- all three commissioners represent the whole county.
Where it appears. Countywide.
Why it matters this year. Seat A and Seat B together are two of three. Whatever the county does about growth, the jail and the budget for the next four years is settled substantially by these two lines on the ballot.
Our guide to this part of local government →
Utah County · On every Utah County ballot
Utah County Clerk
1 · term: 4 years
What it decides. Elections -- the voter roll, ballot production and mailing, drop boxes, vote centers, tabulation and the canvass. Also marriage licenses, passport applications and the official record of the county commission.
Where it appears. Countywide.
Why it matters this year. The office that administers this election is itself on this ballot, and the incumbent lost the June primary. Whoever wins runs the next four years of Utah County voting.
Our guide to this part of local government →
Utah County · On every Utah County ballot
Utah County Auditor
1 · term: 4 years
What it decides. The county's budget officer and internal audit function -- countywide financial administration, budget preparation, and checking that county money went where the commission said it would.
Where it appears. Countywide.
Why it matters this year. Our own clerk guide flagged that some county material describes a combined Clerk/Auditor office. The 2026 candidate roster settles it for this election: Clerk and Auditor are filed as two separate offices with two separate fields of candidates.
Our guide to this part of local government →
Utah County · On every Utah County ballot
Utah County Attorney
1 · term: 4 years
What it decides. Criminal prosecution for felonies in Utah County, plus legal advice to county government. Charging decisions -- what gets filed and what does not -- are the discretion that matters and they are almost never on anyone's ballot checklist.
Where it appears. Countywide.
Why it matters this year. One general-election candidate filed. An unopposed race is still a race, and it is the last moment the office answers to voters for four years.
Our guide to this part of local government →
Utah County · On every Utah County ballot
Utah County Sheriff
1 · term: 4 years
What it decides. Policing in unincorporated Utah County and in cities that contract with the county, plus the county jail, court security and search and rescue.
Where it appears. Countywide.
Why it matters this year. The sheriff runs the jail. That single fact accounts for most of the budget and nearly all of the litigation risk attached to the office.
Our guide to this part of local government →
School boards · Depends on your address
Provo City School District Board of Education
4 of 7 seats · term: 4 years
What it decides. The district budget, the superintendent's contract, school boundaries, closures and the local property tax levy. Boundary and closure votes are where a school board decision becomes a household decision.
Where it appears. Seats 1, 2, 3 and 4 are on the 2026 ballot. Which one you vote in depends on your address; the district publishes a map per seat.
Why it matters this year. Four of seven seats is a working majority of the board, and each of the four drew a single general-election candidate. These are non-partisan races with no primary to fall back on.
Our guide to this part of local government →
School boards · Depends on your address
Nebo School District Board of Education
3 seats · term: 4 years
What it decides. The same authority as any Utah local board: budget, superintendent, boundaries, closures and the local levy, over one of the fastest-growing districts in the state.
Where it appears. Nebo seats 2, 4 and 5. Nebo covers south Utah County -- Springville, Spanish Fork, Payson, Salem, Santaquin and the towns around them -- not Provo.
Why it matters this year. Seat 4 was the only local school board contest to reach a primary this year, which is a fair measure of how rarely these seats are contested at all.
Our guide to this part of local government →
Judges · Depends on your address
Judicial retention
Several · term: Varies by court
What it decides. Nothing you vote on directly -- a retention question asks only whether a sitting judge should stay. Utah appoints judges and then asks voters to keep or remove them.
Where it appears. Fourth District Court and Fourth District Juvenile Court judges serve Utah County; justice court judges serve a single city or the county. Which judges appear depends on where you live and whose terms are expiring.
Why it matters this year. This is the section that defeats people, because the names are unfamiliar and the ballot offers no guidance. Utah's Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission publishes an evaluation of every judge on a retention ballot, and it exists for exactly this moment.
Our guide to this part of local government →
Ballot questions · On every Utah County ballot
Constitutional amendment: 60% threshold for tax-related initiatives
Yes or no · term: Permanent if approved
What it decides. Referred by the legislature as Senate Joint Resolution 2 and approved on March 6, 2025. It would require a citizen-initiated ballot measure to clear 60 percent rather than a simple majority in order to impose a new tax, widen an existing one, raise a rate, or slow a scheduled rate cut.
Where it appears. Statewide. On every ballot in Utah.
Why it matters this year. It changes how hard it is for voters to legislate by initiative in the future, which makes it the rare ballot question about the ballot itself. Read the text rather than the title.
Ballot questions · On every Utah County ballot
Constitutional amendment: how amendments must be published
Yes or no · term: Permanent if approved
What it decides. Referred as House Joint Resolution 10 on March 7, 2025. It would strike the constitutional requirement that a proposed amendment run in a newspaper in every county for two months, and replace it with publication for 60 days in a manner set by statute. A companion law, H.B. 481, was signed on March 27, 2025 and takes effect only if voters approve this.
Where it appears. Statewide.
Why it matters this year. The publication requirement is not a technicality -- courts voided a 2024 amendment partly over it. This question asks voters to hand the legislature the power to decide how it must notify them.
No contest matches that combination. Widen a filter — there are 16 kinds of contest on this ballot, not a hundred.
Offices, not people. This page carries no candidate names, no party endorsements and no polling. Those are the facts that change between a build and a deploy, and a page that carries them is wrong within a week while still looking authoritative. What is here is durable: which contests appear on a Utah County ballot, what each office actually decides, and where the authoritative candidate list lives.
Provo.com does not publish a candidate list. The county does, it is the authority, and it is updated when a candidate withdraws or is disqualified -- three things that happened on this cycle's roster already. Work from the county's sample ballot, not from a guide.
Half of knowing what is on your ballot is knowing what is not. These are the offices Utah County residents most often expect to vote on in a midterm and will not find.
The contest inventory is Utah County's own published candidate roster, read from the CSV export of the sheet the county links from its Candidate Records page. Provo's congressional district was not taken from an encyclopedia -- four of those disagreed, and the ones that agreed were describing a map the court rejected. It was read out of the county's official precinct canvass for the June 23, 2026 primary: all 63 Provo precincts and all 56 Orem precincts carried the District 3 contest. That the PR precinct code means Provo is confirmed from the county's own Provo precinct map rather than assumed from the letters.
Contest inventory last reviewed 2026-08-15 against Utah County's published candidate roster. 16 kinds of contest. Nothing on this page is a candidate list, an endorsement or a prediction. Confirm your own ballot against the county's sample ballot before you fill it in.