Election staff: Voters should check registration before Nov. 5

COEUR d’ALENE — Some Kootenai County electors have received notice that their voter registration status has been challenged. 

This likely occurred because a piece of official correspondence, such as an absentee ballot or a notice that a polling location has changed, was returned to the Kootenai County Elections Office as undeliverable. 

When this happens, election staff are obligated to investigate and find out if the voter is still eligible to vote in Idaho. 

“We’re doing our due diligence,” said elections manager Asa Gray. 

A voter’s registration status may be challenged if the individual is deceased, has moved or is registered at an incorrect address. 

To find out if any of these situations has occurred, election staff checks whether the mailing address is a P.O. Box that the voter no longer uses or whether a listed address is now vacant. 

They also check driver’s license databases to determine whether a voter resides somewhere other than the address associated with their voter registration. Research may also reveal whether an Idaho voter has died out of state, data that might not be reflected in Idaho’s vital records. 

“Those are all contributing factors we look up before we even contact someone to challenge their registration,” Gray said. 

If evidence indicates that a voter’s residence has changed, elections staff sends a letter inquiring into the validity of the voter’s registration status. This letter includes a postage-paid envelope and a new registration form, as well as instructions for how to update one’s voter registration online. 

“We never cancel someone’s registration without correspondence,” Gray said. 

If the elector doesn’t respond within 20 calendar days from the mailing date of the written inquiry, the individual is removed from the voter registration system. 

Whenever possible, Gray said, election staff avoid challenging voters who they believe have merely moved to another address within Kootenai County or within the state of Idaho. 

“We want them to update their registration instead,” he said. 

Idaho law defines a resident as anyone who keeps a home in Idaho for the entire tax year and spends more than 270 days of the year in Idaho or who is domiciled in Idaho for the entire year. “Domicile” refers to someone’s permanent home. A person can have multiple residences but only one domicile. 

This means, for example, that snowbirds who spend part of the year in another part of the country, students attending college outside Idaho and military personnel who are serving outside Idaho may be Idaho residents and remain eligible to vote in Idaho. 

So far this year, 1,107 electors have been removed from the voter registration system, according to the Kootenai County Elections Office. There are about 109,000 registered voters in Kootenai County.

Gray said nearly all of those who were removed were electors who did not respond to challenges issued by the elections office. 

That includes one former Kootenai County resident who reached out to The Press after receiving a challenge. Indeed, she had moved out of state and registered to vote in her new state of residence. 

“I ignored the letter and simply filed it away as not requiring any action,” she said. 

Electors who are still eligible to vote in Kootenai County or elsewhere in Idaho can update their voter registration at www.voteidaho.gov. Voters can check their voter record at the same website. 

“If you’ve moved since the last time you voted, check your record,” Gray said. “Don’t wait to do it.” 

The deadline to register to vote online is 24 days before an election. Idaho residents may also register to vote in person during early voting from Oct. 15 to Nov. 1 or register to vote at the polls on Election Day. 

A current photo ID, such as an Idaho driver’s license or Idaho identification card, and proof of residence are necessary to register to vote.