Washington voters clearly want more extensive background checks for gun purchases but they aren’t sure whether they want to mandate smaller class sizes in their public schools. In a duel between competing gun proposals, Initiative 594, which extends the background checks now required for guns purchased in stores to most private sales as well, was passing Tuesday night with about 60 percent of the vote. Initiative 591, which wouldn’t let the state require more stringent checks than the national standard, was failing with about 54 percent of the voters saying no. Read more

Here’s the caveat to tonight’s election results as they stand now: In Idaho’s three most-populous counties, Ada, Canyon, and Kootenai, results are coming out very slowly and the current numbers represent well under half the vote in each of those counties. Nevertheless, statewide, with 757… Read more

In the Spokane County commissioner’s race, challenger Mary Lou Johnson is winning the city of Spokane, and incumbent Al French is winning almost everything else. As the map of the Tuesday vote totals shows, Johnson did well inside the city limits of Spokane and some… Read more

Idaho Gov. Butch Otter told the crowd at the Republican Party election night watch party that he was reluctant to give a victory speech because he hadn’t yet received a concession call from losing candidates A.J. Balukoff and John Bujak, but he wanted to take… Read more

Kootenai County voters mostly backed Republicans down the ballot today, continuing a long trend of support for conservative candidates. Read more

The Spokane park bond issue was passing handily around the city Tuesday night, picking up the needed 60 percent approval rating or better in most of the 137 precincts. As the map shows, it was getting a majority, although not the needed supermajority, in most… Read more

Democratic candidate for governor A.J. Balukoff, while not ready to concede the race, said whether or not he wins, “It was worth it – we’ve been able to change the conversation. We’ve raised education to a good level of discussion. I feel great about what… Read more

The Associated Press has called the race for Idaho Gov. Butch Otter, with only a third of the votes counted, saying he’s won a rare third term as Idaho’s governor. Democratic challenger A.J. Balukoff said, “It’s still early in my mind – I’m going to… Read more

Sherri Ybarra, the Republican candidate for state schools superintendent, is trailing Democrat Jana Jones in a close race right now, but it’s early. “I’m feeling good,” Ybarra said at the Idaho GOP state election night party, where she was joined by her family, including son… Read more

The Associated Press has called Idaho’s U.S. Senate race for Republican incumbent Jim Risch, based on the early results; at this point, with 19 percent of the vote counted, Risch had 61.5 percent to 38.5 percent for Democratic challenger Nels Mitchell. Mitchell, who was with… Read more

We’ve got some close races going in Idaho tonight. With 152 of the state’s 965 precincts reporting, Republican Lawerence Denney is barely leading Democrat Holli Woodings for Idaho Secretary of State, 52.1 percent to 47.9 percent; and Democratic candidate for state schools superintendent Jana Jones… Read more

Spokane County Commissioner Al French took a comfortable lead over Democratic challenger Mary Lou Johnson tonight as voters across Eastern Washington appeared to again be giving Republicans the edge. Read more

The Idaho Secretary of State’s office will be posting unofficial election results online here throughout the evening - but not until the polls close, meaning all the polls in Idaho. North Idaho’s polls close an hour later due to the time-zone difference, so look for… Read more

I spotted this jack-o-lantern with a timely message - VOTE - on Harrison Boulevard today. There’s still more than an hour to vote in southern Idaho (the Mountain time zone), and more than two hours in North Idaho, which is on Pacific time. Polls close… Read more

Problems in Kootenai County - the state’s third-most-populous county - could delay election results tonight. In the primary election in May, Kootenai County had virtually no results until after midnight. This time, the county’s chief deputy clerk, Pat Raffee, sent out a news release in… Read more

One in three ballots in Washington state have been returned to county elections offices statewide. Spokane County is slightly better, at 39 percent. If you still have yours and are looking for a little help to make your final picks, scroll down to the last… Read more

In this AP photo by Idaho Statesman photographer Katherine Jones, Larry Breach puts on an “I Voted” sticker on his shirt after voting at the West Emmett precinct at the Gem County Fairgrounds. Breach said he votes in nearly every election. “I’ve missed one since… Read more

Washington voters who still have their ballots sitting on the counter may be searching for that last bit of information to help them decide how to mark the ballot on one particular race or ballot measure. Idaho voters may be trying to bone up before… Read more

Today is the day – time for everyone to go vote! At my polling place in North Boise this morning, poll workers reported a steady stream of voters, running well ahead of turnout in the last mid-term election four years ago, though not approaching the… Read more

So you’ve marked your ballot and want to save a stamp by putting it in a drop box. Or you put the ballot somewhere where you wouldn’t lose it when it arrived two weeks ago, and now you can’t find it. Spin Control can help… Read more