Lining up at the polls

In already a record-breaking year, Kootenai County saw almost 1,000 early voters on its first day.

With 102,755 registered voters as of Monday at 5 p.m., the county expects to have an all-time high of voters in the 2020 election cycle. Early voting has already started nationwide, some seeing lines that last hours, but in Kootenai County, chief deputy clerk, Jennifer Locke said it had been smooth sailing.

"The line was a little backed up in the morning, but I remember I was on Twitter Saturday, and they said in Dallas early voting had a four-hour wait," Locke said. "I know we're not Dallas, but the point is it hasn't been hours. People are actually pleasantly surprised how fast they're getting through."

Reaching a little over 914 early voters, Locke said much of their efficiency is from the aid of Tenex technology. Tenex, an election software solution company based in San Diego, Calif. and Tampa, Fla. supplied a set of portable tablets to aid polls.

"With our technology from Tenex, which our state system is also on, we were able to connect to these electronic iPads, and with that, we had print-on-demand capacity," Locke said. "With these, we were able to check-in 914 voters. I don't think we have ever had that many in one day. We could almost reach 1,000 by the end of the day."

Ada and Canyon Counties have utilized Tenex for polling since earlier this year. After watching Ada use the system during the August election, Locke and the clerk's office felt they would be comfortable testing it on the Nov. 3 election. With the aid of masks, plexiglass dividers, and social distancing measures, Locke said Tenex's use has helped keep voters safe this cycle.

"We're taking safeguards in every sense. Every time someone comes in, they get a new stylus that we sanitize and a new pen. We also have hundreds and hundreds of secrecy sleeves," Locke said. "In the past, we would be all over in the ballot box just touching constantly and hovering, but that would not have been conducive with COVID."

There isn't anything she would change, Locke said, maybe add a few workers to help with same-day registration available to walk-in voters.

Same-day registration and absentee ballot drop-offs are also allowed at the Third Street facility near downtown Coeur d'Alene until election day, Locke said. As of Monday at 5 p.m., 45,475 Kootenai County residents have applied for absentee ballots, and 16,391 have been returned — not counting those delivered during the day. Locke said the more people participate in early voting and absentee ballots, the easier election day will be.

"If we could hit 50,000 for absentee requests sent out and then have 8,000 to 10,000 voting here, that's an ease for poll workers," Locke said. "People really do want to vote in person, but part of their concern is they don't know what election day is going to look like. With this, they can just get in, vote, and do it in person."

Early voting will be available at the County Elections Office on Third Street in Coeur d'Alene until Oct. 30, Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. in anticipation of the Nov. 3 election.