Live updates: Republican challengers unseat Boise representative, Ada commissioner
[Find live election results here]
150 of 151 Ada County precincts reporting election results
11:57 p.m.: With 150 of Ada County’s 151 precincts reporting, two Republican challengers appear to have ousted local incumbent Democrats.
Codi Galloway has a 1,200-vote lead over incumbent Jake Ellis for Idaho House seat 15B. In the same district, incumbent Republican Sen. Fred Martin appears to have held his seat over challenger Rick Just, while incumbent Steve Berch, a Democrat, held his House seat 15A in another close race.
Ada County Commissioner Diana Lachiondo appears to have lost her seat to Republican Ryan Davidson, of Garden City. Davidson earned 51.2% of the vote, while Lachiondo earned 48.8%. Here’s more on that race, as well as well as three other countywide races.
In Ada County Highway District zone 2, challenger Alexis Pickering leads incumbent Rebecca Arnold by a mere two votes. Read more on the three Highway District commission seats here.
Multiple challengers for College of Western Idaho trustee seats appear to have unseated incumbents. Follow those race results here.
Associated Press calls Idaho races early; local results trickle in
10:47 p.m.: President Donald Trump has pulled ahead of Democrat Joe Biden in Ada County results. With 112 of 151 precincts reporting, Trump earned 49.8% of Ada County’s votes. Biden earned 47.1%.
Republican Sen. Jim Risch also took the lead over Democrat Paulette Jordan, who early on had the bulk of Ada County votes. The race was called for Risch shortly after polls closed in Idaho.
Incumbent Republican Rep. Russ Fulcher has maintained a strong lead in Ada County, while Democrat Aaron Swisher continues to hold most of Ada County’s votes over incumbent Republican Rep. Mike Simpson.
In Legislative District 15, Representative Seat B has flipped in favor of Republican challenger Codi Galloway over incumbent Jake Ellis. Galloway has 51.6% of the vote.
Ada County Commissioner Diana Lachiondo is down slightly to Republican challenger Ryan Davidson. Davidson has 50.6% of the vote.
In Ada County Highway District zone 2, incumbent Rebecca Arnold is tied with challenger Alexis Pickering. Arnold has just over 20 votes more than Pickering.
10:14 p.m.: In the race for U.S. president, The Associated Press called Idaho in favor of Republican Donald Trump shortly after polls closed statewide at 9 p.m. Mountain time. This was no surprise. The last Democrat to win Idaho in a presidential race was Lyndon Johnson in 1964.
Over 109,000 Ada County voters cast ballots for Democrat Joe Biden, according to early results from the Ada County Clerk’s Office. Trump had nearly 104,000 votes, and Libertarian candidate Jo Jorgensen tallied roughly 4,000. Rapper Kanye West received more than 900 votes.
The Associated Press also called the U.S. Senate race between Republican incumbent Jim Risch and Democratic challenger Paulette Jordan in Risch’s favor. Jordan pulled more than 106,000 votes in Ada County in early results.
[Read more on congressional race results here]
More than 60% of voters (61,688 in early results) voted for Republican incumbent Russ Fulcher for U.S. Representative in District 1. Challenger Rudy Soto had nearly 37,000 votes early on.
Early results also saw Democrat Aaron Swisher with a lead over Republican incumbent Mike Simpson for the U.S. Representative seat in District 2. Swisher had over 55,000 votes – nearly 59% of early results.
Other early advantages went to Republican incumbents in Idaho Legislative District 14: Sen. C. Scott Grow, Rep. Mike Moyle and Rep. Gayann DeMordaunt.
All three races in Legislative District 15 were close early on, with Republican incumbent Sen. Fred Martin earning 50.5% of votes over challenger Rick Just. Democrat Steve Berch had a stronger lead (53% of early votes) over Patrick McDonald for Representative Seat A, while Republican Codi Galloway and Democrat Jake Ellis were neck-and-neck for Representative Seat B.
Democratic incumbent Sen. Grant Burgoyne held a strong early lead over Republican LeeJoe Lay in District 16, Representative Seat A went uncontested to Democratic incumbent John McCrostie and Representative Seat B leaned heavily to Democrat Colin Nash.
In District 17, Democrat Ali Rabe had nearly 68% of early votes for the district’s Senate seat. Incumbent Democrat Rep. John Gannon had a similar lead for Representative Seat A, and incumbent Democrat Rep. Sue Chew had 71% of early votes.
Legislative District 18 saw Democrat Janie Ward-Engelking with a strong lead for the district’s senate seat, as well as Democrat Ilana Rubel for Representative Seat A and Democrat Brooke Green for Representative Seat B. All three women are incumbents.
In District 19, Melissa Wintrow had nearly 75% of early votes for Senate seat over Republican challenger Aaron Tribble. Lauren Necochea, a Democrat incumbent, had a similar lead. Democrat Chris Mathias also had more than 70% of votes for Representative Seat B, a seat vacated by Wintrow as she made her bid for Senate.
Republican Sen. Chuck Winder ran unopposed to remain in his District 20 Senate seat. Incumbents Joe Palmer and James Holtzclaw, both Republicans, had large leads early on for the district’s House seats.
All Idaho legislative seats in Districts 21 and 22 leaned heavily Republican, as well.
Ada County Commissioner races appeared close as early votes trickled in. Boise Democrat Diana Lachiondo held a slight lead over Republican challenger Ryan Davidson, of Garden City, while Democrat Bill Rutherford barely held off Republican challenger Rod Beck.
More than 70,000 votes cast on Election Day in Ada County
8:04 p.m.: Polls have closed in most of Idaho, though voters who were in line by 8 p.m. can remain in line to cast their ballots. Polling places in Idaho’s panhandle will remain open until 8 p.m. Pacific Time.
In a virtual news conference, the Secretary of State’s Office said Ada County had about 82% voter turnout, while Canyon County’s turnout was around 76%. Both counties broke voter turnout records earlier in the day.
Live results will be reported at the IdahoStatesman.com homepage as they’re available.
7:35 p.m.: The Ada County Clerk’s Office is reporting 77,675 votes cast on Election Day, with 11,307 people registering to vote on Tuesday.
One-third of the Election Day voters (25,644 people) are between the ages of 18 and 34, according to data from the clerk’s office. More than half of all Election Day voters (39,928) are registered Republicans.
7:13 p.m.: According to a tweet from the Ada County elections office, nearly 260,000 ballots have been cast — about 81% voter turnout. That shatters the 2016 record of 202,971 ballots cast (88% turnout).
6:36 p.m.: According to data reported at 6 p.m. by the Ada County Clerk’s Office, 71,179 people have cast votes on Election Day. Of those voters, nearly one-third (22,639 people) are ages 18 to 34 and nearly another third (22,563 people) are between 35 and 49 years old. The clerk’s office reports more than 37,000 of those voters are registered Republicans, nearly 25,000 are unaffiliated, 7,600 are registered Democrats and just over 1,000 are Libertarians. More than 9,600 people registered to vote on Election Day.
2 hours until local polls close, absentee ballots due
6:11 p.m.: If you’re in line when polls close at 8 p.m., stay in line if you want to vote. Anyone who is in line by 8 p.m. will be given the right to vote as long as they stay in that line. That means no stepping away to grab a forgotten ID, but don’t worry — you can vote without an ID as long as you sign an affidavit confirming you are who you say. Poll workers will “cap” the line when polls close, and a polling place will stay open until all those voters are able to vote.
If you have an absentee ballot, make sure you drop that off in a drop box by 8 p.m. Absentee ballots that arrive after 8 p.m. are not considered valid and will not be counted.
Ada County readies for 5 p.m. traffic at the polls
4 p.m.: People are moving quickly through polling places across Ada County, according to Chelsea Carattini, spokeswoman for the Ada County Clerk’s Office.
“We’re not seeing big lines ... (but) things will pick up as we get into the 5 o’clock hour,” Carattini told the Statesman.
By 4 p.m., the county has seen about 4,000 voters who requested absentee ballots but opted instead to vote at the polls. Carattini said those absentee ballots are voided and the in-person votes counted.
Nearly 7,000 people have registered at the polls, according to a data visualization from the clerk’s office. Both Ada and Canyon counties reported record voter turnout Tuesday, with Ada County surpassing 225,000 ballots by 3 p.m. and Canyon County recording 70,000 ballots by around the same time.
Idaho Secretary of State warns of ‘suspicious’ Election Day robocalls
4 p.m.: Idaho Secretary of State Lawerence Denney issued a statement Tuesday afternoon warning Idahoans of “suspicious” robocalls that appear to be encouraging people to stay home for their safety.
According to the news release, multiple residents reported receiving the automated calls Tuesday morning from a local area code. The calls told recipients to “stay home, stay safe” on Election Day. The Secretary of State’s Office said the calls did not come from any official office and should be ignored. It wasn’t immediately clear whether the calls specifically mentioned voting, polling places or Election Day.
This story was originally published November 3, 2020 at 4:39 PM.
