Idaho lawmakers introduce bills tightening voting rules

BOISE – Two bills introduced by a panel of lawmakers Monday would tighten restrictions around voting in Idaho – making it illegal to deliver nonfamily members’ mail-in ballots to the post office, ending same-day voter registration and limiting the types of identification voters can use at the polls.

A third bill would require residents with homeowner’s property tax exemptions to use that address for the purposes of voting and running for office.

The House State Affairs Committee voted to introduce all three bills. Some GOP-led states such as Texas have increasingly restricted voting access – particularly for mail-in voting – as some Republicans continue to advance former President Donald Trump’s phony claims of fraud in the 2020 election.

A comprehensive review by The Associated Press of every potential case of voter fraud in the six battleground states disputed by former President Donald Trump has found fewer than 475 – a number that would have made no difference in the 2020 presidential election.

And the Idaho Secretary of State’s office has said a partial recount of ballots during the last presidential election validated the accuracy of the results, with a margin of error of roughly 0.1%.

“Election integrity is at the forefront” of Idaho residents’ minds, said Rep. Dorothy Moon, a Republican from Stanley. “None of us wants to see illegal votes nullify legal votes.”

Moon’s bill, co-sponsored by Sen. Regina Bayer, a Republican from Meridian, would eliminate student identification cards from the list of acceptable voter IDs. Instead, students could use a driver’s license or state-issued photo ID along with a utility bill to prove they are who they say they are at the polls, Moon said.

Current Idaho law allows people without acceptable photo identification or proof of residency to sign affidavits attesting to their identities. Under Moon’s bill, those voters would be limited to a “provisional ballot” that wouldn’t be counted unless they go to the county clerk’s office within 10 days of the election with the proper identification.

The bill would also eliminate same-day registration at the polls, according to a statement that Moon posted on her Facebook page after the committee meeting.

Rep. Mike Moyle, a Republican from Star, introduced a bill to stop so-called “ballot harvesting,” preventing people from taking mail-in ballots to the post office for anyone who is not a household member.

A member of the same household could drop off family members’ ballots, but only if there are fewer than six ballots being mailed. Someone who is paid to collect and mail ballots would be charged with a felony, unless there were fewer than 10 ballots – and then it would be a misdemeanor.

Another voting bill from Moyle makes it clear that when a resident has a homeowner’s property tax exemption, that is considered their domicile for the purposes of running for election or voting.

Moyle said the issue came up after lawmakers learned some people were claiming homeowner’s exemptions at more than one property, or were running for office in a different district than the home for which they were claiming an exemption.