LEHI -- Voters were waiting to get into the Lehi Senior Center before the doors opened for the Meet the Candidates Night open house on Wednesday evening.

Hosted by the Lehi area PTAs and co-sponsored by the Daily Herald, the event drew more than 150 people who were curious to hear what the candidates had to say.

"I think it's going quite well, a lot better than it did two years ago I think," said KaiLynne Osborne, PTA legislative vice president. "Our big focus is trying to get the community to come out and participate to meet all of the candidates and decide."

The primary election is Tuesday and Lehi voters will get to decide who they want for mayor from among the three candidates vying for the office: incumbent Howard Johnson, former mayor Ken Greenwood and Bert Wilson. Those running for the two 4-year City Council offices are incumbent Johnny Barnes, incumbent Stephen Holbrook, former councilman Rod Olsen, Justin Collings, Kaye Collins, James Green, Gordon Miner and Kerry Schwartz. Each race will be narrowed down to two candidates for the general election.

Several PTA members brought their families to the open house, kids included.

"My wife is in the PTA and she dragged me here and said, 'We're going to meet some of these people because we vote for names and can never put a face to them,' " said Chip Watts.

"A lot of people don't go vote because you don't know [candidates]," said Chip's wife, Tracy Watts. "People don't feel like the local elections are as important as, say, the president of the United States."

Teachers at Lehi Junior High School and Lehi High School gave their students extra credit if they attended the open house as well, so there were several teenagers who attended the meeting. The school assignment is what got Lehi mother Brenda Diepeveen out to meet the candidates.

"It's a good thing because it forced me to do the research on the candidates," Diepeveen said. "I'm so busy right now that I haven't had the time."

Her son, eighth-grader Cole Diepeveen, said he enjoyed attending the event and meeting the candidates for city office.

"Yeah, I found there are lots of different people here with lots of different views," Cole said. "I can't imagine how you grown-ups will vote; it's hard. Every one of them has something about them I like."