Election Day is here

COEUR d’ALENE — It’s Election Day, North Idaho — and it’s shaping up to be a big one.

Polls are open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. New voters can register at the polls; they’ll need a current photo ID, as well as proof of residence.

Every Kootenai County voter has something to vote for during this election, whether it’s for North Idaho College trustee, contested races for county sheriff and commissioner or school and fire levies. Every state legislative race is contested. 

Also appearing on the ballot are Proposition 1, which would open Idaho’s primary elections to all voters and implement ranked choice voting for general elections, and an amendment to the Idaho Constitution that would ban non-U.S. citizens from voting in Idaho elections. 

Schools in the Coeur d’Alene School District will be closed today, as some schools will be used as polling sites. Post Falls schools will be open. 

Voters who are unsure where to vote can use the “find your polling location” tool on voteidaho.gov or the “polling place look-up” tool on the county’s website, under www.kcgov.us/31/elections or use the similar tool at voteidaho.gov.

Voters must vote at their designated polling places and cannot vote at the elections office today. 

It’s too late to mail completed absentee ballots because any ballots received after 8 p.m. today won’t be counted. 

Until 8 p.m., completed absentee ballots can be hand-delivered to the elections office, 1808 N. Third St., Coeur d’Alene. 

Voters who requested but have not yet returned absentee ballots can also go to their polling place and tell a poll worker they want to surrender their absentee ballot and instead vote in person. 

More than 40,600 Kootenai County voters have already cast their ballots, according to the elections office, split almost evenly between absentee and early voters. Statewide, 380,603 Idahoans had voted as of Monday morning.

Elections staff estimate that 100,000 Kootenai County residents will vote in this election. 

“I think we’re going to get there,” said Kootenai County Clerk Jennifer Locke. “It could be more than that because we could see a lot of new voter registrations.” 

The number of registered voters has climbed to 113,914, according to the elections office, more than 1,300 of whom registered during the early voting period. 

Though elections staff will make every effort to publish results tonight, high voter turnout and a two-page ballot are likely to make counting votes a more laborious task than usual. If Kootenai County sees the 85% to 90% voter turnout expected by elections staff, that will translate to around 200,000 ballot pages. 

“It’s going to be a long night because of the sheer amount of pages we have to run through the tabulators,” Locke said. 

Expect early voting results to drop first tonight, followed by absentee votes. If all runs smoothly, Locke said, Kootenai County results will be updated regularly throughout the night. 

Whether at the polls or while waiting for results, patience is a virtue. 

“Be patient,” Locke said. “It’s a 14 or 15 hour day for the poll workers and judges on Election Day.” 

Contested candidate races in Kootenai County 

Kootenai County Commissioner District 3 — Leslie Duncan, Roger Rowland 

Kootenai County Sheriff — Justin Nagel, Bob Norris, Kyle Woodward, Dan Wilson 

North Idaho College Trustee Zone 3 — William Lyons, Rick Durbin 

North Idaho College Trustee Zone 4 — Eve Knudtsen, Greg McKenzie 

North Idaho College Trustee Zone 5 — Mary Havercroft, Michael Angiletta 

Kootenai/Shoshone Soil and Water Conservation District — Linda Ely, Wesley Evans, Laurin Scarcello, Walter Jon Groth, Paul Mahlow, Richard Meyer