Competitive races fuel early voting
COEUR d’ALENE — Fans of democracy might jump for joy at indicators of skyrocketing voter turnout in Kootenai County this year.
Election officials urge you to temper those expectations.
This year, election officials mailed 3,211 absentee ballots to Kootenai County residents. By late last week, 1,933, or 60%, had been filled out and returned.
By this time in 2017 — the last November election in what’s known as an “off-year” because of its lack of federal and statewide candidates such as nominees for president, Congress or the governorship — 1,495, or 72%, of the 2,050 ballots mailed had been returned.
The 57% spike in absentee ballots distributed from 2017 to 2019 do not necessarily fall in line with early voter turnout. In 2017, 657 early votes had been cast through the end of the Monday before Election Day. As of the end of business Friday, November 1, at least 635 votes have been counted.
While the absentee numbers appear encouraging, officials say the reasons extend far beyond voter-registration drives.
“One thing to keep in mind,” Kootenai County Clerk Jim Brannon said, “is that back in 2017, all the City Council seats went unchallenged in Coeur d’Alene. Now, we have three seats up and seven candidates between them. That has likely driven more absentee requests.”
Chief Deputy Clerk Jennifer Locke said that even though the Elections Office attributes a large portion of the voter increase to the Coeur d’Alene City Council races, the open seats aren’t the only factor propelling the upswing.
“This is the first time we’re moving school board elections for the Lakeland School Districts from May to November,” Locke said. “That’s probably playing a big role in this.”
Locke’s reference points to four races in four separate districts. Residents in Hayden, Bayview, Athol and Hauser Lake will get to vote this year on their district representatives to the Lakeland Joint School District Board of Trustees.
“For that matter, there are other areas of interest this November,” Brannon said. “We have recalls up for a vote for two [Water and] Sewer District Directors [Robyn Edwards and Sharon Meyer] up in Bayview. Recalls always get more interest than usual.”
One other fact to keep in mind: 2017’s Election Day fell on Nov. 7. Election officials had two extra days of early votes to cast.
As for Election Day on Tuesday, Brannon said speculating on voter turnout is just that: Speculation.
“I don’t know what the numbers will look like on Election Day,” he said. “It’ll be interesting.”