Poor recount coverage

S-R coverage of the Saturday presidential vote recount in Bonner County, Idaho, was disappointing. It was clear that the reporter didn’t attend the recount and did not watch the livestream. The source cited was the twitter posting of the secretary of state’s office. That’s not sufficient.

The livestream was worse than disappointing. There was no audio. The camera was distant from the vote counting. The livestream ended at noon. Viewers’ screens went black. The recount is described as “full day” so at least half of it has no video available for review later. An observer had no chance to determine how and how well the recount was carried out. This seems newsworthy.

Many who would have attended in person were deterred by the lack of COVID protections. Masks were not required, and frequently not worn. The county has not chosen to use any of its COVID prevention funds to upgrade the County Administration Building HVAC system to one with a HEPA filter. This too seems newsworthy when covering the recount.

As a subscriber, I encourage the S-R to more comprehensively and accurately cover news in its subscription area.

Molly O’Reilly

Sandpoint