Divided House passes bill limiting early-voting period, 45-24
The House has voted 45-24 in favor of freshman Rep. Dustin Manwaring’s bill to limit early voting to the period from between three weeks before the election and one week before. “There is a misconception that extending early voting for periods longer than three weeks increases turnout,” said Manwaring, R-Pocatello. He said most counties already fit that schedule. “By defining the one- to three-week time period, we get that clarity without disrupting how people are currently voting in Idaho,” he said.
Rep. Sally Toone, D-Gooding, sharply disagreed. “Fourteen counties offered voting earlier than this bill would have permitted,” she said. “Instead of cutting the time frame for early voting, the Legislature should be encouraging access to early voting to make sure that more voters can participate.”
Rep. Elaine Smith, D-Pocatello, told the House, “This came out of committee on an 8-7 vote, so it was very close, and it’s state control vs. local control. Each county needs to decide what is best for their citizens. In Bannock county, we start early voting around Sept. 26. This is good for the snowbirds – we have a lot in Bannock County. They like to do early voting instead of absentee voting before they go to Arizona, California, Texas or wherever. They like to do early voting because some of them don’t know their specific address, of where they will be, until much later. The Association of Counties likes the law as it is currently, and I urge you to vote no and assure counties local control.”
Rep. Brent Crane, R-Nampa, countered, “This bill doesn’t eliminate local control at all. We set election process and policy here at the state level. All they do at the county level is implement that policy.” He said, “I think it’s very important for the citizens of the state of Idaho to have predictability in the election process. This can vary from county to county. … It needs to be predictable.”
Rep. Greg Chaney, R-Caldwell, also spoke in favor of the bill, HB 150. “It would just make sure that everybody’s playing by the same rules all the time,” he said.
House Minority Leader Mat Erpelding, D-Boise, said, “I’m opposed to this bill – I think it’s bad policy. I don’t even know why it’s here, because there haven’t been complaints about our voting policies in Idaho.”
Here’s how the vote broke down:
Voting yes: Reps. Amador, Anderson, Anderst, Armstrong, Barbieri, Bell, Blanksma, Boyle, Burtenshaw, Chaney, Cheatham, Collins, Crane, Dayley, DeMordaunt, Dixon, Gestrin, Gibbs, Hartgen, Hixon, Holtzclaw, Kauffman, Kingsley, Loertscher, Luker, Malek, Manwaring, McDonald, Mendive, Monks, Moon, Moyle, Nate, Packer, Palmer, Perry, Raybould, Redman, Scott, Shepherd, Stevenson, Thompson, Troy, VanOrden, and VanderWoude.
Voting no: Reps. Bedke, Chew, Clow, Erpelding, Gannon, Giddings, Hanks, Harris, Horman, Jordan, Kerby, King, Kloc, McCrostie, Miller, Rubel, Smith, Syme, Toone, Trujillo, Wintrow, Wood, Zito, and Zollinger.
