Candlelight to remain polling place

COEUR d’ALENE — Candlelight Christian Fellowship will remain a polling place through November’s general election.

Commissioners voted 2-1 Tuesday to approve the location of all polling places for the Nov. 8 election, including Candlelight.

The vote came a week after Commissioners Bill Brooks and Chris Fillios sought counsel on the legality of moving the location for precincts 403 and 405 from Candlelight to Community United Methodist Church.

The question was prompted by dozens of Kootenai County residents who asked the board to move the polling place, citing concerns about the church’s political activities.

Paul Van Noy, the church’s founding pastor, has endorsed candidates before his congregation and told Candlelight attendees directly how they should vote. The church makes political materials, such as leaflets and sample ballots, available to visitors, though the materials are cleared away before polls open.

Kootenai County Clerk Jim Brannon, whose responsibilities include running elections, called the board’s preliminary move an “egregious overreach.”

Idaho law requires counties to designate the same polling place for the primary and general election, “insofar as possible.” There are exceptions, including when a facility is damaged or when its owner refuses to make it available again.

None of those exceptions apply to Candlelight, Brannon said, nor has he received complaints about electioneering or intimidation at Candlelight on Election Day.

For that reason, Brannon said he would not move the polling place before the general election, regardless of the board’s vote.

Commissioner Leslie Duncan said the law is clear.

“To change the location this close to the election would be very bad precedent,” she said.

Brooks said he wrestled with the decision. Though he disapproves of Candlelight’s “hyper-politicized” activities, he said he hasn’t seen proof of electioneering at the church on Election Day.

“If there’s ever any actual intimidation, I would be the first one to change whatever polling place that is,” he said.

Fillios was the dissenting vote on Tuesday, reiterating that he believes the church’s political activities make it an inappropriate venue.

“I don’t believe Candlelight Christian Fellowship should be permitted to continue as a polling location,” he said.

In addition to emails from concerned voters, Fillios said commissioners received an online petition, signed by 305 people, that called for the polling place to be moved.

Those who are unwilling or unable to vote in person on Election Day can vote early at the Kootenai County Elections Office or complete an absentee ballot.