Speed a luxury in county elections

Watching the Idaho Secretary of State's website on election night was fascinating, and not just because the earliest reported leaders almost all ended up losing.

Local onlookers were also keeping an eye on when counties reported numbers to the state. Much to their chagrin, Kootenai County was the very last county whose initial tally was added to the statewide numbers - around 10:30 p.m. local time, or 11:30 in Boise. And it dragged painfully on from there, with final, unofficial numbers being reported about 1:15 a.m. Nov. 5.

"Slow but accurate" would be a noble enough rallying cry, and as a matter of fact, Kootenai County's unofficial election results were dead on when sizing up the winners and the losers. But one key stat, voter turnout, was erroneously reported as 22.3 percent. Elections officials fixed that on the morning of Nov. 6, upgrading the horrendously low turnout to a more respectable 54.2 percent.

It's not our intent to hammer the County Clerk's Office or its Elections Department. We've seen appropriate testing and great effort over the past few elections do little more than raise the ire of candidates, voters used to prompt updates and knowing who won before they go to bed, and yes, the eager scribes at area newspapers who can only hurry up and wait while critical deadlines fly past.

Everybody had been warned that results shouldn't be expected before Wednesday morning, but many hoped county officials were simply underpromising with the goal of overdelivering.

In the face of so much criticism, now's the time for a broader perspective. We'd like to go on the record with two thoughts.

First, it would be ideal for the county clerk and elections office officials to seek help in making the election night tally more fluid. Being last to report in the whole state is not a prideful distinction. We say that with the admitted motivation of wanting to deliver a more valuable newspaper to subscribers the next day, like we did for many years, but we also have heard from other citizens that the efficacy of the local elections staff and their processes are being questioned. That's not good for anybody.

The other thought is this: "Slow but accurate" might not be ideal, but it's far better than "Dewey defeats Truman."