Absentee voters off to strong start

BOISE – Let the voting begin.

The election may be a month away, but hundreds of Idahoans already are casting their ballots.

In Kootenai County alone, more than 1,000 people already have voted by absentee ballot, including several dozen members of the military.

“The election has started,” Idaho Secretary of State Ben Ysursa said. “It’s heavy, and we think will continue to be heavy, and that’s good. That’s what democracy is all about.”

Starting on Monday, Idaho voters will be able to cast absentee ballots in person at every county courthouse or election office in the state. Idaho’s same-day registration law also allows absentee voters to register when they come in, by showing proof of 30 days’ residency and a photo ID.

“They can register to vote and vote absentee all in the same visit,” said Kootenai County Clerk Dan English.

Early voters who are registered also can request an absentee ballot to be sent to them in the mail, which they can complete at their convenience and mail back. The deadline for preregistration for the Nov. 2 election in Idaho is Oct. 8. Though voters also can register at the polls on Election Day, officials are encouraging early registration to avoid additional lines at the polls.

On Tuesday, the Kootenai County elections office got its first e-mail from an Idaho soldier serving in Iraq, saying he’d received his ballot, voted and sent it back.

“It’s kind of exciting,” English said.

Under Idaho law, Idaho voters can cast their absentee ballots as soon as the ballots are available. Ada County has sent out roughly 4,000 ballots, and Kootenai County is close to that number.

English said requests for absentee ballots are running nearly four times as high as they were at this point in the last presidential election in 2000.

Absentee voting has become increasingly popular in Idaho, and that’s especially true in Kootenai County. Four years ago, 22 percent of Kootenai County voters voted by absentee ballot, nearly twice the state average.

But even more than that, English attributes the increase to “just the intense interest in the election at every stage of the game this time.”

Kootenai County will set up voting booths at seven city halls on Oct. 18, to accommodate absentee voters for the last two weeks before the election, in Athol, Rathdrum, Hayden, Post Falls, Coeur d’Alene, Worley and Harrison.

The county also is planning a Saturday voting day on Oct. 23, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the county elections office, 315 W. Garden Ave. in Coeur d’Alene, to help make things convenient for voters.

The booths already are set up at the county elections office now, to accommodate voters who show up early.

“For a big election, it really serves a practical function of having several thousand voters that aren’t there on Election Day at the polls,” English said.

Said Ysursa, “Voting’s open. We make it very, very easy to vote, and I think it ought to be easy. There’s no excuse not to vote.”