Plans for new polling place at UI in works

Latah County and the University of Idaho are finalizing an agreement that would provide a polling place on the UI campus for future elections starting in May, according to Latah County Clerk/Auditor/Recorder Henrianne Westberg.

Westberg discussed Latah County elections and polling places at a League of Women Voters of Moscow forum Wednesday in the Arts Workshop of the 1912 Center in Moscow.

The Kibbie Dome was the previous polling place at UI, but it was last used during the 2016 presidential election. She said Moscow voters in precincts 8 and 16, which largely comprise UI student living groups, would vote at the Vandal Ballroom inside the Bruce M. Pitman Center. The room would be available for voters at all four elections each year — March, May, August and November.

The UI polling location would be the fourth polling place for Moscow voters and the 16th in Latah County.

Most registered Moscow voters cast their ballots at the Latah County Fairgrounds; voters in the four northern Moscow precincts — 2, 3, 4 and 17 — started voting at the Hamilton Indoor Recreation Center in the November 2019 election; and absentee, early voting and mail ballots take place at the Latah County Courthouse in Moscow.

Westberg said after Wednesday’s forum she hopes to have the agreement between the county and university signed in the next couple of weeks because she wants to alert those roughly 2,000 registered voters in precincts 8 and 16 of their new polling location.

Most voters in precincts 8 and 16 are UI students, but Westberg said she would like to adjust precinct boundary lines to move more student groups inside the two precincts and move nonstudents outside for voter convenience. She said the precinct lines cannot be adjusted until after the 2020 U.S. Census.

“These aren’t perfect but it certainly collects most of the campus student body population,” Westberg said of the two precincts.

She said the university is allowing the county to use the Vandal Ballroom at no cost and parking around the Pitman Center will be available to voters on Election Day.

During the past year, Westberg has received angry letters and phone calls from some people saying the county has not moved fast enough in providing a UI polling place, while others have said the county should not allow students to vote in a town they live nine months out of the year in, much less provide a special polling place for students.

She said she has tried to move carefully and stay within her available resources for equipment and staff, and has sought legal advice.

“I can’t move people’s polling places erratically,” Westberg said. “Any new polling place needs to potentially be permanent.”

She said several standards, including accessibility, security and parking, need to be met before cementing a polling location. Frequently changing polling locations or not identifying one far enough in advance is voter suppression, according to Westberg.

Westberg said the Kibbie Dome was pulled as a polling place for accessibility, security and noise issues.

She said it is a long walk from the parking lot to the Kibbie Dome, which makes it especially difficult for those who struggle with mobility.

Westberg told a brief story about how the Vandal Marching Band started playing inside the Kibbie Dome on Election Day in November 2016, forcing poll workers to shout while helping voters.

“How do you secure the Kibbie Dome?” she said. “That place is buzzin’ all the time and I just didn’t feel comfortable leaving my equipment and ballots there overnight.”

For many years, Latah County voter turnout was abysmal, Westberg said. But that has not been the case in recent years. From November 2017 to November 2019, voter turnout increased from 27 percent to 42 percent. To meet the new demand, Westberg and several others discussed potential Moscow polling places.

The HIRC was identified first and the roughly 4,000 voters in the four northern Moscow precincts who normally voted at the fairgrounds now vote at the city-owned recreation center. The city does not charge the county to use the HIRC on Election Day.

“I didn’t want to try to open that new polling place (the HIRC) as well as a University of Idaho polling place at the same time,” Westberg said. “With my staff and my financial ability, I just didn’t see that we had that. I felt like we’d go sideways, and the last thing I want to do is go sideways opening a new polling place.”

Garrett Cabeza can be reached at (208) 883-4631, or by email to gcabeza@dnews.com.