PRIMARIES: No do-overs anymore

Yes — the key move is in Section 10, Idaho Code § 34-702A. 

On May 19th, cast your vote for the best qualified candidates, as the Idaho Legislature last year changed rules regarding running for public office.  

Example: If the primary election result did not suit you, you could try and make a change yourself by registering and running as a write-in candidate in the general election. Not anymore! So choose your candidates wisely. 

Before, the law generally said a write-in declaration must be filed before “the day of election.” HB 278 and the current § 34-702A says county-office write-ins must file with the county clerk by the ninth Friday before the primary, not the general election. 

For County Commissioner, that matters because it is a county partisan office. To become a party’s write-in candidate for the general election, a person must be written in at the primary, receive at least five write-in votes for a county office and file declaration of intent under § 34-702A.  

So, they did not directly say, “No general-election write-ins for County Commissioner.” They did it by changing the filing deadline structure so that a county-office write-in declaration is tied to the primary election deadline. If someone waits until after the primary to try becoming a write-in for County Commissioner in the general election, their votes would not be counted because no valid general-election county write-in filing window remains under that language.

Old concept: “I can declare as a write-in before the election I want to run in.”

New effect: “For county partisan offices, you had to start in the primary.”

That is how the door was effectively closed.

TOM SANNER

Coeur d’Alene