What voters need to know this November

With the last day for voter pre-registration fast approaching, questions on how and where to vote have started to arise.

The Idaho Secretary of State runs a website to help guide Idaho voters. VoteIdaho.gov, has a voter education portion to help voters navigate the process to register, request and receive their ballots, as well as to vote and return their ballots.

For voters in Bonner County who are unsure of where to vote, Bonner County GIS also has a search tool where interested voters can search their address or click on their neighborhood to find their polling location. Voters can go to bit.ly/BoCoPolls to look up that information.

Voters can request an absentee ballot by filling out an absentee ballot request form online at VoteIdaho.gov or at the county Elections Office, which is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the first floor of the Bonner County Administration Building. The last day for registered voters to request an absentee ballot is Friday, Oct. 28.

If you need to register to vote, the deadline to do so is Oct. 14 by 5 p.m. at the county office or 11:59 p.m. at VoteIdaho.gov. An Idaho-issued driver’s license is necessary to request an absentee ballot or to register to vote online. For those without Internet access, a paper form can be found at the office or printed from the Idaho Secretary of State website.

If sending the form by mail, it must be addressed to the County Administration Building, 1500 U.S. 2, Sandpoint, ID 83864. The form must be received by the county 25 days before the election, which is Oct. 14.

Only voters who have moved since they last registered or who have not voted in four years need to update their registration.

To register at the polls on election day, residents should bring Idaho-issued identification, such as a driver’s license, or another government-issued ID with a document that demonstrates residency in that precinct. Adults who have resided in Idaho for 30 days before Election Day are eligible to vote in Idaho elections.

According to VoteIdaho.gov, Idaho students of voting age can register to vote with an Idaho student ID and their current fee statement if it shows an address in that voting precinct.

Bonner County Clerk Mike Rosedale hopes to mitigate some of the common errors voters make. One of the biggest issues are absentee ballots that are sent in too late.

Rosedale recommends voters fill out an absentee ballot as soon as they have their minds made up. The last to request an absentee ballot is Oct. 28, but Rosedale says that is cutting it a little close.

“Everything we count has to be in my office by 8 p.m. on Election Day. If it gets there at 8:01, we can’t count it,” he said. “Every year we have a big stack of ballots that we can’t even open.”

In the case of a mangled or torn absentee ballot, a resolution team composed of one Democrat and one Republican are tasked with sorting out the voter’s intent and fill out a new scannable ballot.

Another frequent issue is unclear selection of candidates. If a ballot has too many boxes marked, the resolution team will go through the ballot and attempt to determine the voter’s intent. If this happens, Rosedale advises that the voter write on the ballot to clearly indicate the actual choice.

“You can literally write ‘this one, not that one’ if this happens to you. Sometimes it’s two boxes filled in completely and in that case it’s voided,” Rosedale said.

If an absentee ballot is not received, then the county elections office can send another one if the voter notifies them with enough time. If an absentee ballot is not used, a voter can still decide to vote in person.

Early voting lasts from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the County Administration Building and will start Oct. 24 and go until Nov. 4.

Polls are open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Nov. 8. Rosedale said the county’s polling sites remain unchanged. He encouraged voters to try to go earlier rather than later to prevent long waits later in the evening.