Mccain Interest Triggers Calls, Visits To Elections Office

Idaho voters swamped the Kootenai County elections office Wednesday in apparent support for presidential candidate John McCain.

Sen. McCain, R-Arizona, made a speech Wednesday morning at Gonzaga University in Spokane.

Afterward, Democrats, independents and Republicans called or visited the elections office to make sure they could vote for McCain, said Deedie Beard, Kootenai County elections supervisor.

“Our phones have been ringing off the wall,” Beard said. “Some people said, `We heard (McCain’s) speech and we want to change our party and vote Republican.”’

“At one point we had four people in the office and two phone lines busy,” she said. “I didn’t even get to go to lunch because of it.”

All the excitement was a false alarm. That’s because Idaho voters don’t have to declare a party when they register to vote.

But in the state’s May 23 primary, residents must vote either Democrat or Republican, she said.

The deadline to register to vote in the primary is April 28.

Beard estimated that her office handled about 35 calls and 12 people who visited with questions.

“Actually, we have seen response like this before, but not quite as drastic as this was today,” she said. “It definitely kept us jumping.”