Record numbers vote in Idaho’s mail-in primary, and turnout is strong in Ada, Canyon
Idaho saw a historic number of ballots cast during this year’s unusual primary election.
As of Wednesday afternoon, a total of 331,949 ballots had been counted — which is 36.6% of registered voters, according to Jason Hancock, deputy secretary of state for the elections division.
“That’s as high a voter turnout for a primary as we’ve seen,” Hancock said.
The turnout could fluctuate slightly, he said, as counties are required to have finalized ballot counts into the state by June 9, and the state must finalize its ballot counts by June 17.
For comparison, during the last May primary election in a presidential voting year —2016 — there were 176,806 ballots cast in Idaho, or roughly 23% of registered voters.
During the 2018 May primary election, there were 269,467 ballots cast, for a voter turnout percentage of 32.6%, Hancock said. He said the uptick in voters then was due in large part to the governor’s race.
This year’s primary, held by mail-in ballot because of the coronavirus pandemic, shattered the last cycle’s record numbers. Hancock called the election a “thundering success” given the circumstances.
In the Treasure Valley, voter turnout rates were fairly close to the state’s percentage. In Ada County, 36.2% of registered voters cast a ballot, according to the county clerk’s office. This means 96,055 ballots were counted in Ada as of Wednesday afternoon. During the 2018 primary, roughly 33.9% of registered Ada County voters cast ballots.
In Canyon County, the voter turnout rate was around 33%, as 32,017 ballots were cast as of Wednesday. In the 2018 May primary, roughly 31.29% of registered voters in Canyon County voted, according to the county’s website.
Hancock cited a few factors for the strong turnout. For one, local and state officials made a huge push to publicize the changes, including sending mailers to every registered voter notifying them to request an absentee ballot.
“It was something we felt like we had to do,” Hancock said of the state’s decision to reach out to voters.
With state officials concerned over the spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, the decision was made to not open polling stations and instead have voters mail in ballots from home or drop them off at county clerks’ offices.
Hancock said another possible reason for the high turnout is that many are sitting at home looking to occupy their time, and voting would be something to check off their to-do list.
Despite the success of this primary, the Idaho Secretary of State’s Office has said it would prefer to conduct a regular election in November, with polling places open. However, those talks have yet to begin, Hancock said.
Requesting absentee ballots will still be an option for voters in November. Hancock said the elections office added a new functionality to its website allowing voters to request those ballots online. Around 176,000 voters requested primary ballots through the site because of this upgrade, he said.
It was March when state officials made the call to close polling locations and conduct the May primaries through mail-in voting. The decision was made roughly seven weeks before the polls were set to open, which Hancock said caused a bit of a time crunch. Hancock said he hopes that whatever decision will be made for November is handled further in advance.
