In the weeks preceding any election, state or national, campuses and city streets are populated with individuals handing out pamphlets and asking: “Have you voted yet?”
For many Americans and Idahoans, it’s not a matter of choosing to vote but whether or not they legally can.
Idaho Amendment HJR No. 5 Bill Prohibits noncitizens from voting
Idaho’s new House Joint Resolution No. 5 Bill went into effect this past General Election, prohibiting noncitizens from the United States to vote in Idaho elections.
Despite Idaho’s constitution in Article VI, Section 2 stating a qualified voter as an individual who “resides” in the state or country where he or she belongs to, Rep. Kevin Andrus says that the purpose of this resolution is to double-down on preventing noncitizens from voting in Idaho elections.
“There’s no noncitizen voting in Idaho that we’re aware of, but we wanted to be absolutely sure that wouldn’t ever happen,” Andrus said. “This was a way that we could make absolutely sure, except for a constitutional amendment in the future.”
Andrus says he doesn’t anticipate this amendment impacting Idaho’s future population growth or demographic shifts regarding voting turnout.
“I don’t think it really changes anything,” Andrus said. “I think Idaho is a great place to live, and people want to move here, but I don’t really see it affecting [more] than it would have originally.”
With municipalities in states like California permitting noncitizen voting, Andrus explained the importance of passing HJR No. 5 Bill, making it a state-wide mandate to prevent noncitizen voting from happening in future Idaho elections.
“That’s another part of it, because there’s evidence that there’s cities in the country that are allowing noncitizens to vote in elections,” Andrus said. “With the current state elected officials, they would never pass, but I could see certain cities [in Idaho] maybe wanting to push something through, this ensures that will not happen.”
House Bill 340 acts as a barrier for out-of-state voters
After House Bill 340 passed in 2023, voters can no longer use a student ID or an out-of-state driver’s license as valid forms of identification.
Trent Tripple, the county clerk for Ada County felt conflicted about having to turn voters away.
“Standing there in line … it didn’t feel right that I had someone with a birth certificate, a current driver’s license from another state, a voter ID card from another state and five proofs of residency from a water bill to a rental agreement … I could definitely prove who they were [and] that they were residents, but I still couldn’t let them vote,” Tripple said.
While Tripple believes that the Idaho Secretary of State’s office provided clear communication to the community, ultimately that information didn’t reach everyone.
“Over the [course] of the entire early voting period and Election Day where people were registering same-day registration, there was closer to maybe 1000 people in Ada County that initially got turned away because they didn’t have what they needed to register,” Tripple said.
Despite frustration at getting turned away, early voters had a larger window of time to get the materials they needed. Same-day voters did not. Tripple explained that obtaining the free Idaho ID was a lengthy process and required birth certificates and additional documentation.
“If you get closer to Election Day, if you don’t have one of those forms of ID, you’re not going to go get it in a day or two, you’re definitely not going to get it on election day,” Tripple said.
“In the new law, the word current is not under the ID requirements for voting, but it is under the requirements for registration. Even there, they didn’t exactly get it perfect,” Tripple said. “The process of this new legislation — the clerks supported the initial change to it, which included IDs driver’s licenses from any other state. That was that was taken out by the legislators.”
The importance of accessible polling locations
Many polling locations are not accessible for individuals living with a disability. In part due to the ever-changing nature of voting stations, it can be difficult for those who live with a disability to establish a voting plan.
In an email interview with The Arbiter, Jeremy Maxand, executive director for the Living Independence Network Corporation (LINC) emphasized the importance of wheelchair accessibility at polling places.
“As someone who has used a wheelchair since 1989 and as the Executive Director of a Center for Independent Living, I cannot overstate how critical it is to have polling locations that are accessible for people with disabilities. Voting is a fundamental right, and it’s imperative that everyone, regardless of their disability, has equal access to participate in our democratic process,” Maxand said.
Maxand explained that although highly populated areas have become more accessible, many voting stations still do not consider accessibility measures. Maxand said LINC works with county election officials to provide education and to assess polling locations.
“While polling locations in many larger cities have become more accessible over time, there remain locations that still create barriers for people with disabilities, especially for people with mobility-related disabilities,” Maxand said.
Maxand pointed out that not only do inaccessible polling locations prevent people with disabilities from voting, but they can also send harmful messaging.
“When polling places are inaccessible, it not only discourages participation, but it also sends a message that some people’s rights matter less than others. Accessibility isn’t just about ramps or wide doorways — it’s about ensuring that people with disabilities have the same opportunities to vote independently and privately, just like anyone else,” Maxand said.
Polling locations that are accessible allow voters to maintain privacy. Maxand noted that individuals who are blind can face difficulties while filling out an absentee ballot and require assistance — despite technology existing that would allow them to vote privately.
Maxand shared that he has experienced barriers while voting firsthand.
“It’s been a few years, but one of my polling locations was in an elementary school that was completely inaccessible, and I had to ask for someone to physically bring my ballot to me while I was in my vehicle. And that was in Boise, a large urban center,” Maxand said.
Maxand expressed frustration with Idaho’s new voting legislation, saying it causes “unnecessary barriers” and described an experience helping an elderly voter. Maxand worked alongside a colleague for 15 months to ensure a voter who was unable to leave his nursing facility could cast his vote.
“His ID had expired, and he was living at a new address. We had to request a certified birth certificate from another state, which took a long time to receive, and we had to make a bunch of calls to county and state agencies to navigate the new process, which was confusing for everyone involved,” Maxand said.
Maxand noted that this voter had been on Medicaid for several years which calls for proof of citizenship and had a “history of voting”.
Going forward, Maxand wants polling workers to know they are appreciated and hopes that Idaho legislators consider the effects of their legislation on accessibility.
“I hear more and more that, ‘The law isn’t perfect, but it can be sorted out in court.’ I think we can do better than this. Idahoans deserve better than this,” Maxand said. “Either every vote counts and the right to vote is important, or it isn’t. We choose to believe voting is a critical right, and we’re going to continue to fight for this right for every Idahoan, especially those with disabilities.”
Idaho Election sees high voting turnout numbers despite voting obstacles
Idaho saw a 85.7% voting turnout in this year’s General Election, a 5.54% increase compared to the 2020 General Election.
Idaho Secretary of State Phil McGrane says that amongst voting challenges some Idaho voters faced, he views this past election as a success.
“This was one of the smoother elections that I’ve been a part of,” McGrane said. “Of course, when you have over 900,000 people show up and vote, there’s a lot of work that goes into a lot of potential things that could go wrong, and no election is perfect. But by and large, this went very smoothly from the county’s perspective, from our perspective. I think that’s really a testament to all the pre-planning that the counties did.”
McGrane mentioned the pre-planning process for this upcoming election began around mid-summer working with the Secretary of State Office and counties, completing tasks such as processing and mailing absentee ballots, training poll workers across polling locations and mailing voter pamphlets to every Idaho household.
“Overall, all that prep work, getting into September with the first absentee ballots going out, into October with early voting and then obviously on Nov. 5, with the big Election Day, everything came together well,” McGrane said.
Despite the issues House Bill 340 presents, McGrane says it allows college students the opportunity to obtain a free ID to vote.
“I know [House Bill 340] has gotten a lot of conversations about ID requirements, but one of the great parts of it is we now have a free ID,” McGrane said. “Let’s say you’re a student on campus, you don’t need a driver’s license for anything, you are now eligible to get a free state issued ID for the purpose of voting. You can [also] open up a bank account, TSA will accept it for travel, that’s free to students, just have to go down to the local sheriff’s office to get one.”
McGrane advises for future elections to register for voting as soon as possible.
“I think one of the biggest things for all voters, doesn’t matter where you fit in the mix, is not waiting until the very end,” McGrane said. “If you register earlier in the process or get registered now even though we’ve just had an election, so many people are like ‘well, I’ll wait till the next one’, it’s actually easier to do it now.”
