Idaho’s all-absentee election results in high turnout

The first all-absentee ballot election in Idaho history seemed to be a hit with voters Tuesday, as it resulted in the highest voter turnout in 40 years.

As of Wednesday afternoon — with two counties still reporting partial results, according to the Secretary of State’s Office — statewide turnout was 38.5 percent.

Since 1980, when 41 percent of voters cast ballots, turnout during a primary has only exceeded 35 percent one other time, in 1992.

In terms of the number of ballots cast, this year’s primary set the all-time record, with 328,499 ballots. That was an increase of nearly 60,000, or 22 percent, from 2018.

Turnout in north central Idaho ranged from 31 percent in Latah County to 49 percent in Clearwater County. Nez Perce County hit 35 percent turnout, with 7,732 ballots cast, up from 23 percent and 4,920 ballots in 2018. Idaho County had 46 percent turnout, while Lewis County had 42 percent.

Clearwater County Auditor Carrie Bird credited the high turnout in her county to there being contested sheriff and county commissioner races on the ballot, as well as to the extensive public awareness campaign by the Secretary of State’s Office.

“There was a statewide push, with a lot of advertisement,” Bird said. “I think that got people to request a ballot, knowing that was the only way they were going to be able to vote.”

The primary shifted to the all-absentee format at the end of March, because of concerns about spreading the coronavirus.

Having a little more notice would have been nice, Bird said, but things went fairly smoothly on election night.

“It was definitely a learning experience,” she said. “But now we know.”

The 2,283 ballots cast Tuesday were nearly four times the number of absentee ballots she’s seen in any previous election. However, Bird expects more voters to request them in the future.

“I think this has increased the knowledge of how to request a ballot and that you can do this every election,” she said. “We’re basically going to do this all over again in November. (The general election) won’t be all mail-in, but we have almost as many absentee requests (as for the primary). We have over 1,000 requests right now, and that doesn’t include what the Secretary of State’s Office has. So in November we could have about two-thirds as many absentee ballots as we had this time.”

Latah County Auditor Henrianne Westberg said her office is seeing the same thing.

“We’ve had so many requests already, we’ll have a huge mail out in November,” she said. “I think this met the goal of increasing voter turnout, which is always a huge concern. We typically don’t have a big turnout in May.”

Prior to Tuesday, turnout in the last five even-year primaries in Latah County ranged from 17 to 29 percent.

Like Bird, Westberg credited the Secretary of State’s Office with helping to increase participation. It mailed pre-filled request forms to all registered voters in the state, making it relatively easy for them to get a ballot. There were problems processing the large number of online requests — and ultimately the deadline was extended by a week in response to a court ruling — but the office still managed to ramp up on short notice.

Nez Perce County Clerk-Auditor Patty O. Weeks said the feedback she received from voters was generally quite favorable.

“They could do it on their own time and then mail the ballots or drop them off,” she said. “There was a lot of positive feedback.”

Having county offices closed to the public for several weeks because of the coronavirus also helped free staff up to handle the large number of ballot requests.

“In our office, we were working the whole time, and we were able to pull people from the court and other offices and put them to work,” Weeks said.

She attributes the high turnout in Nez Perce County entirely to the fact that ballots could be mailed back.

“We didn’t have a lot of contested races,” she said. “And it’s interesting to note, out of all the ballots we sent out, 82 percent came back on time. Given what was on the ballot, I think it’s remarkable people cared enough to take the time to send them back.”

In other election news:

Idaho Gov. Brad Little appointed Aaron von Ehlinger to fill out the remainder of Rep. Thyra Stevenson’s term of office.

Stevenson, who represented the 6th Legislative District in Nez Perce and Lewis counties for three terms, died May 11, following a heart attack. She was locked in a Republican primary battle with von Ehlinger at the time.

Little announced the appointment Wednesday morning, just hours after von Ehlinger won the primary. The appointment is effective immediately and continues until the term of office expires following the November general election.

No Democrats filed for any 6th District seats, so, at this point, von Ehlinger is the only candidate who will be on the general election ballot for the House A seat.

Statewide election results show that four incumbent legislators were defeated by Republican primary challengers Tuesday.

That’s a slight decrease from the five Republicans who were defeated by fellow Republicans in 2018, or the six Republicans who lost primary races in both 2016 and 2014.

No Democratic lawmakers were defeated by fellow Democrats during any of those four elections.

Eastern Idaho districts proved to be particularly difficult on incumbents Tuesday.

In the 33rd Legislative District, two-term incumbent Rep. Bryan Zollinger narrowly lost to mental health professional Marco Erickson, of Idaho Falls, 51 percent to 49 percent.

First-term incumbent Rep. Britt Raybould lost her 34th Legislative District primary to former Rep. Ron Nate by a margin of 52 percent to 48 percent. And in the 35th Legislative District, former Rep. Karey Hanks defeated first-term Rep. Jerold Raymond, 51 percent to 49 percent.

In Canyon County’s 10th Legislative District, two-term incumbent Rep. Jarom Wagoner also lost his seat. Retired educator Julie Yamamoto defeated him by a margin of 58 percent to 42 percent.

William L. Spence may be contacted at bspence@lmtribune.com or (208) 791-9168.