It’s Election Day! If you didn’t join the absentee or early voting bandwagon, I wrote an explainer yesterday on who’s who and what’s what for voting in Boise.
It’s full of links and resources, but the most important one is probably the first: Find your voting location here.
We’ve also compiled guides on:
- How to vote.
- Who’s running in Boise.
- Who’s running in Meridian.
- And who’s running in Nampa and Caldwell.
If you just can’t stand to read another thing about the election (same), Idaho Statesman reporter Ian Max Stevenson and I dove headfirst into the mayor’s race last week.
Big News for Early, Absentee Voting
No matter who wins the elections, Ada County voters have already set records for both the most absentee mail ballots issued and the most in-person early voting ballots cast.
Ada County Elections numbers show that more than twice as many voters requested absentee ballots this year than in 2021, and that they requested ballots further in advance. (Ada Count Elections / Tableau Software)
The number of early in-person voters has increased steadily since the 2017 election, according to Ada County Elections, and has risen by about 4,000 voters between each of the last two elections. This year, 13,637 Ada County residents voted early.
Meanwhile, there’s an even bigger jump in the number of absentee mail ballots issued: almost 20,000 voters were issued an absentee ballot, up from 8,850 two years ago, which was the most ever up to that point.
Reminder: If you still have your absentee ballot, you need to drop it off at a city hall or the Ada County Elections office — it won’t make it through the mail in time for it to be counted.
I’ve also had a couple of readers say they requested an absentee ballot but never received one. If that’s your situation, I don’t have any answers for you yet, but if you can go vote in person, tell a poll worker at the registration table what happened.
Last Minute Campaign Finance Update
Campaign donations aren’t necessarily helpful for predicting election outcomes, but they can provide insight into who’s running an effective campaign, and who’s got the backing of major local political influences.
Looking at the mayoral race, we see that according to the Secretary of State’s shiny new campaign finance dashboard, Mayor Lauren McLean has outraised challenger Mike Masterson by over $220,000, pulling in almost half a million dollars in contributions.
According to the Idaho Statesman, she’s actually passed the half a million dollar mark already, which will be shown on the dashboard once smaller donations are reported (they’re only reported once a month).
Happy voting!
