Election Day Roundup — 5.16.17

You can use this roundup to discuss the local elections being held today. And I’ll go first:

• 1:57 p.m. County Clerk Jim Brannon continues to provide dismal turnout numbers — 13 have voted so far at the Golden Spike Restaurant in Rathdrum (at 1:09 p.m.) and 25 at New Life Community Church on Rathdrum Prairie (at 1:45 p.m.).
• 1:32 p.m. Mike Kennedy reports that he was voter No. 7 at 1:20 p.m. in one of the 2 precincts that vote at Woodland MS.
• 12:37 a.m. Deputy County Clerk Jennifer Locke tells Huckleberries that 8 total voters had voted by 11-11:20 at the polls housed in the Betty Kiefer and John Brown elementary schools in Rathdrum.
• 11:17 a.m. County Clerk Brannon reports that 48 residents of Bayview have voted so far, including Bayview Herb. The water district elections are bringing out the voters in Bayview, he said. Brannon pointed out the obvious — 1 or 2 votes could swing an election in this spring election where voter turnout is at a possible record low.
• 10:36 a.m. Alison McArthur of the Post Falls Senior Center reports no one has voted at the two precincts in the building.
• 10:13 a.m. County Clerk Brannon tells Huckleberries that he’s heading for Bayview, where water district race might prompt a higher turnout than other precincts in the county.
• 10:05 a.m. County Clerk Jim Brannon reports from Precincts 48 and 49 (St. Pius X Church) that Father Roger LaChance, of St. Pius X (who lives close by) was the first person to cast a vote in Precinct 48, at 9:23 a.m. (polls opened at 8), and a woman was the first person to cast a vote in Precinct 49, at 10 a.m. Sez Jim: “The turnout is nonexistent.”
• 9:56 a.m. I received a mass mailing of an endorsement letter from our old buddy Larry Spencer Monday night. He recommended who I should vote for in the hospital board and Lakes Highway District races. I’ll use Larry’s recommendations to vote for the candidates he didn’t recommend.