Elections will inaugurate county office

Kootenai County election clerk Deedie Beard predicts voters will turn out in good numbers for this fall’s city elections. She just hopes they know where to go.

The county elections office is now housed in the former U.S. Bureau of Land Management building on North Third Street in Coeur d’Alene. Monday was the first day to vote by absentee ballot in the Coeur d’Alene, Post Falls, Hayden and Rathdrum elections. All but Hayden have contested races.

Election Day is Nov. 6.

Citizens can vote at the county office using an absentee ballot, or they can fill out an absentee ballot at their city hall. Coeur d’Alene and Hayden city halls have the ballots now; Post Falls and Rathdrum will have ballots available next week.

This is the first major election the county elections staff will spend in the new office. The former headquarters near the county administration building sits empty and will be razed soon, Beard said. A sign on the door of the old building directs voters to the new locations, and Beard hopes word spreads and would-be voters head directly to the new office.

With nearly three dozen city candidates on the ballot across the county and a contentious ballot measure in Post Falls that will decide the fate of the current City Hall, Beard predicts a good turnout, particularly in Post Falls, Coeur d’Alene and Rathdrum.

“If the candidates go out there and work really hard, they generate that turnout,” she said. “I think you’re going to see that in Coeur d’Alene and Post Falls.”

At least, she hopes so. “People need to realize that these city elections have a lot to do with what happens in our cities. So it’s important to get out and vote,” Beard said.