Early voting sees disturbances near elections office

COEUR d’ALENE — Quarrels outside the Kootenai County elections office this week have prompted police responses and caused county staff to make peacekeeping efforts.

With early voting underway, community members have gathered near the elections office downtown as early as 5:30 a.m. each morning this week in order to plant signs promoting different candidate and stake out prime spots to wave signs and hand out campaign literature.

Kootenai County Clerk Jennifer Locke said the jockeying for space has been contentious at times, with some people fighting over choice spots in the parking lot.

“I would’ve never thought that would happen,” she said.

Early Wednesday morning, before any county employees had arrived at the elections office, one vehicle reportedly collided with another as both tried to pull into the same parking spot. Coeur d’Alene police responded to the scene and issued no citations.

Law enforcement responded to a second fracas Wednesday, when a woman reported that a person she had been recording outside the elections office touched her cell phone. When police arrived, the person told them she didn’t touch the phone and instead put her hand up to block its view.

The woman’s video appears to show the cell phone moving as the subject of the recording lifts her hand. Police cited the person for battery at the request of the complaining party, according to public records obtained by The Press. The name of the individual cited was redacted in the report. 

The Coeur d’Alene Police Department confirmed Saturday the citation has been voided. 

A video showing a side view of the incident circulated on social media this week. It appears to show the person who was cited extend her hand toward the phone without touching it.

After the first day of early voting concluded Monday, candidates, party chairs and political action committees received additional guidance via email on electioneering outside the elections office.

“Please know this is not meant to deter any lawful activity but is meant to bring clarity to the complex issue of electioneering and to bring peace of mind to our voters and to the many community facilities we utilize as polling locations,” Elections Manager Asa Gray wrote in the email.

Anyone who is actively electioneering, handing out literature or gathering petition signatures must remain more than 100 feet from a polling place. Similarly, vehicles with political signage or verbiage on them must park outside the 100-foot boundary during electioneering activities.

No one may stop traffic entering driveways, obstruct voters or do anything else that would interfere with the free access of voters to a polling location or the free exercise of the voter’s ability to vote.

The same rules apply at polling locations on Election Day.

Locke said she received feedback from community members and other county officials on ways to reduce tensions outside the election office while early voting continues.

“We all worked together at the county to figure out a solution, but obviously we still have to respect the freedom to gather and freedom of speech,” Locke said. “It’s a balance.”

The Building and Grounds Department has since placed signage near the parking spots over which people were fighting, making it clear those spaces are for county employees and members of the public who have business at the election office, such as voting.

So far, the change appears to be helping.

“It’s been a little calmer the last couple of days,” Locke said.

This story has been updated with additional information received Saturday.