INSIDE MY TURN - Poll workers can't do 'whatever they feel like doing'

Before we devote all our attention to the Idaho Legislature’s 2022 session, there is one item of business left over from the 2021 election that deserves our time because it bears on election security right here in Kootenai County.

A Haydeb poll worker stands accused by a voter of distributing political information on Election Day at a polling location in Precinct 19.

The voter who made the accusation told a reporter that he saw this poll worker handing out cards denouncing the teaching of critical race theory. The voter reported the incident to the Kootenai County Sheriffs’ Office, which investigated and referred the matter to the Coeur d’Alene Prosecutor.

Critical race theory, in case you forgot, is a legal theory that was politicized by Republicans throughout 2021 to denigrate public schools and teachers, and to defeat the supplemental tax levies on which they depend. Critical race theory cannot be found in the curriculum at any of our schools, and voters passed the supplemental levies anyway.

When confronted by the voter and accused of illegally electioneering, the accused poll worker told him that the literature she was distributing had nothing to do with the election. The poll worker then said incongruously: “I’ll do whatever I feel like doing.”

What that poll worker did not know was that her accuser is a retired civics teacher, who understands election laws, and knows how poll workers are supposed to behave.

Electioneering, which includes the distribution of literature, within 100 feet of a polling place is clearly illegal.

If prosecuted and found guilty, the poll worker faces a fine of up to $1,000, and possible jail time. That is, if the poll worker is ever prosecuted.

Beyond what this story may indicate about a poll worker’s bias and crime, it raises several questions about local election integrity.

Kootenai County Elections Clerk Jim Brannon condemned poll worker misbehavior at the time of this event. But more than two months afterward, Brannon still has not revealed what action he took in the matter.

The Kootenai County GOP openly recruited poll workers on its website beginning in August 2021 and called on Republicans to monitor polling places for instances just like the one described above. Was the accused poll worker, in fact, recruited and planted by the KCGOP?

How does Clerk Brannon protect the polls from packing efforts like these?

Does the Elections Office train its workers adequately? Does it consider the party affiliations of those it hires and assigns to polling places around the county? Would Clerk Brannon please describe in detail how he safeguards the polls against partisan abuse?

City Prosecutor Barry McHugh, who could prosecute the poll worker, also has not said what he intends to do about this case. McHugh told a Press reporter that he was awaiting the completion of additional investigative work.

What kind of investigation? How long does it take to interview people who voted or worked at one isolated location, and to determine if a prosecutable crime may have occurred?

Are Clerk Brannon and Prosecutor McHugh hoping we will forget about this important matter? And that sooner or later, they too can forget about it? What can we infer from their silence and delays?

And finally, why is the GOP silent now when it is so quick to allege election interference if the perpetrators are not White?

Kootenai County citizens deserve answers to these questions, and they deserve to be reassured that poll workers are not permitted to do “whatever they feel like doing.”

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Evan Koch is chair of the Kootenai County Democratic Central Committee.