Fixing the Turnout Problem

What's the best way to get more people to participate?

Yesterday I had the pleasure of serving as chief judge for precinct 1407 in Eagle. It turned out to be a quiet day, with only 45 people casting votes in person. A few more came to vote, but upon check-in were determined not to have any ballot questions to vote on. I was glad to be there to ensure that each one of them was able to exercise their responsibilities as citizens of our Republic.

Overall, 8% of Ada County voters took the time to vote early, by mail, or in person on Election Day. It’s a shame that these off-year off-month elections feature such low turnout, because the ballot questions are no less important than state legislature, governor, or even federal races. The people you elect to library boards, sewer boards, auditorium boards, and more will not only decide how much you pay in property taxes, but the character of the services those boards oversee.

I find it terrifically ironic that the number one complaint of Idaho voters is property taxes, yet few turn out to vote in the elections that most directly impact those very taxes. This is especially true regarding all the levies on yesterday’s ballot; in the end, Idaho voters approved a vast majority of tax hikes for schools, fire districts, etc. The next time I hear someone complain about property taxes, I will ask two questions: Did you vote in May 2025? Did you vote in favor of your local levy?

My team and I in 1407 had a lot of downtime in between voters, so we had several conversations about the state of our elections. We wondered if, since this location had so few voters turn out, it should instead have been consolidated with neighboring precincts. On the other hand, doing so would negatively impact those who were accustomed to faithfully visiting Eagle Hills Church on Election Day. This is especially true for elderly voters, who might not be plugged in enough to be easily reminded of a change. When I worked a polling place in 2022, the first major election after redistricting, dozens of voters were confused as to where they were supposed to go.

Do the costs of running elections with less than 10% turnout outweigh the benefits? Is it a good thing for our Republic to have important decisions made by such a tiny fraction of the electorate?

Sen. Tammy Nichols floated an interesting idea on Twitter this morning:

This [10.6%] was the voter turnout for Canyon County last night and many other areas had similar if not lower. This is typical for off year elections as is proven over and over again with low voter turnout.

My question is this: Should we do away with off year elections and consolidate them?

Sen. Nichols followed up her question with a poll asking how many of her followers knew there was an election yesterday. As of the time of this writing, less than half voted, while more than a third were unaware there was an election at all. Remember, this is a self-selected group of people who choose to follow an Idaho state senator on social media.

Remember that by virtue of reading this publication you are already more plugged into the world of politics than most people. The average Idahoan doesn’t subscribe to 500 political accounts on social media, doesn’t listen to political podcasts all day, and doesn’t even know there was an election yesterday, much less who was on the ballot and who represents which positions. Indeed, it seems like just yesterday we were still being inundated with signs and advertising for the 2024 election.

Is the solution to consolidate elections to a single day, every two years? What if we moved questions such as mayor, council, school board, bonds and levies, etc. to the same Election Day at which we vote for governor and state legislature? Would that improve voter participation? Or would it be overwhelming for voters to have longer ballots every two years?

The Legislature has whittled down our elections over the past few sessions from four to two. School boards used to be able to schedule levy votes in March and August, knowing that the extremely low turnout would significantly increase their chances of raising taxes. Perhaps it is time to go a step further and consolidate all our elections, so that voters don’t feel ambushed or bombarded.

What do you think? Should we cut down our elections from twice a year to once every two years? Would that improve voter participation, and in doing so, improve government at all levels? I’ll leave the comments open for free subscribers today—I’m interested in hearing your ideas.

Feature image courtesy of Ada County Elections.