So far, not many have asked for Idaho primary ballot

Unless there’s a major surge in absentee ballot requests, voter turnout for the May primary could be another casualty of the coronavirus pandemic.

As of Monday, the Idaho Secretary of State’s Office said fewer than 60,000 absentee ballots have been requested statewide for the May 19 election. That’s less than 7 percent of registered voters in Idaho.

Since 1980, the lowest turnout for a primary election was 23 percent, in 2016. To hit even that low bar, more than 205,000 ballots need to be cast — or nearly three-and-a-half times what’s been requested to date.

Unlike any previous election in Idaho history, the May 19 primary will be conducted entirely by absentee ballot, and the ballots won’t be counted until June 2.

Gov. Brad Little ordered the change April 1, citing concerns about spreading the coronavirus to poll workers and the public if voting took place in person. The decision means anyone who wants to participate in the primary will need to request an absentee ballot from the state or from their local county elections office.

The deadline to request a ballot is May 19; people can submit the request online, by mail or in person (see breakout).

Elections officials in Latah County said they’ve sent out about 1,300 absentee ballots so far, with more requests pending. In Nez Perce County, the number was about 1,000.

By comparison, Latah County voters cast a total of 4,465 ballots during the 2016 primary, for a 22 percent turnout rate. Nez Perce County voters cast 3,310 ballots, for a 17 percent turnout.

While the number of absentee requests currently falls far short of that, Nez Perce County Auditor/Recorder Patty O. Weeks expects demand will pick up between now and Election Day.

“Typically we average about 17 to 23 percent turnout in a presidential election year primary, and I’m hoping we’ll exceed that,” she said. “With the push by the state and what the counties are doing, I think that will help a lot.”

The Secretary of State’s Office will be mailing request forms to all registered voters who haven’t yet requested absentee ballots. Counties are also advertising the shift to absentee voting.

Historically, competitive races help drive voter turnout, and there are a number of primary races on the ballots this year in north central Idaho. For example, each of the three legislative districts in the region has at least one Republican primary contest. There’s a Democratic primary in the U.S. Senate race as well, to determine who will challenge incumbent Sen. Jim Risch in the Nov. 3 general election. There are also Republican and Democratic primary contests in the 1st Congressional District.

In addition, voters in Nez Perce, Clearwater and Idaho counties will weigh in on Republican primaries for sheriff; Clearwater County also has a Republican primary for the District 2 county commissioner’s seat.

In the legislative races, the move to absentee ballots is less of a concern than the statewide stay-at-home order, which limits candidates’ ability to interact with voters.

“I’m beside myself, trying to figure out what I can do and what’s socially acceptable,” said Charlie Shepherd, the former Salmon River High School coach who is running for the 7th Legislative District House B seat being vacated by his father, eight-term Rep. Paul Shepherd.

Putting out campaign signs is a traditional way of showing support for candidates, but if everyone’s stuck at home and not out driving, that doesn’t help much.

“It’s a roll of the dice,” Shepherd said. “I’ll buy some ads, but hopefully Dad’s hard work over the years has given me some name recognition.”

Rep. Priscilla Giddings, R-White Bird, has tried doing electronic town hall meetings, but that can be challenging with the bandwidth limitations in rural Idaho.

The stay-at-home order “really changes the whole scope of the election campaign,” she said. “I have a feeling we could see some real upsets and surprising results.”

Cornel Rasor, of Sandpoint, who is Shepherd’s opponent in the 7th District House B Republican primary, has looked at the possibility of using low-power FM radio transmissions to reach voters.

If you transmit less than 200 feet, he said, you can broadcast on unused FM frequencies. Voters could drive to a parking area, maintain appropriate social distancing by staying in their cars, and still hear from the candidate.

“I ran for office three times as county commissioner, and this is completely different,” Rasor said. “It’s surreal. We’re writing a new book.”

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

Deadlines for the May 19 primary election:

May 19 — Absentee ballot request forms must be received by 8 p.m. Requests can be submitted online, by mail or in person.

Anyone who hasn’t previously registered to vote has until 8 p.m. to register.

June 2 — Absentee ballots must be received by the county clerk by 8 p.m. Election results should be available later this evening.

Absentee ballots can be requested online at https://idahovotes.gov/vote-early-idaho.

Nez Perce County Auditor Patty Weeks noted that people who are already registered to vote don’t need to register again to request an absentee ballot.

If anyone has questions about the process, she encouraged them to contact their county elections office for assistance.

Ballot restrictions

Depending on where a voter lives, there may be nonpartisan, Democratic and/or Republican primary races in their district. When they request an absentee ballot, voters will need to clarify which ballot they want.

Ballots for Republican primary races will only be available to voters who are affiliated with the Republican Party. (Unaffiliated voters can also request a Republican ballot, but their affiliation will be changed to Republican — and a voter’s party affiliation is a public record.)

Ballots for Democratic primary races can be requested by any registered voter, regardless of party affiliation.

Ballots for nonpartisan races and measures — such as port commissioner or school bond measures — can be requested by any registered voter.

Voter registration numbers

As of April 6, the Idaho Secretary of State’s Office indicated there were 895,714 registered voters in the state. That includes 449,562 Republicans, 125,291 Democrats and 309,539 unaffiliated voters.

Since 1980, the lowest turnout in a primary election was 22.95 percent.

To achieve that level of turnout in the 2020 primary, a total of 205,567 ballots must be cast.

As of Monday morning, the Secretary of State’s Office reported that 58,635 absentee ballots have been requested statewide.