121,000 Idahoans registered to vote on Election Day
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Kyle Pfannenstiel, Idaho Capital Sun
New data from the Idaho Secretary of State’s Office show 121,015 Idahoans registered to vote on Election Day on Nov. 5.
That is the second highest number of Idahoans who registered to vote on Election Day in general elections since 2000, according to the Idaho Capital Sun’s review of past election data reported by the Secretary of State’s Office.
On average, 80,304 Idahoans registered on Election Day in general elections in that time, excluding the 2024 rate. The most voters registered to vote same-day in 2016, when 131,455 registered on Election Day.
The data, shared with the Idaho Capital Sun, includes voter registration and ballot cast information after county election officials conducted a more complete count.
But this year’s election results are still unofficial until certified by the Idaho State Board of Canvassers, which will meet at 10 a.m. Nov. 26 in the Idaho State Capitol Building in downtown Boise.
More Idahoans than ever cast ballots. But high voter turnout rate didn’t break the record.
This year, Idaho set a new record for the most number of ballots cast in an election, with this year’s ballots casts rising to 917,608.
“The turnout, being over 900,000 Idahoans participating and setting a new record for this whole number of voters, is awesome,” Idaho Secretary of State Phil McGrane told the Sun in an interview Wednesday. “… To process almost a million voters is a huge compliment to all the county clerks and the efforts that they did, as well as the poll workers. I know we heard about lines in some situations. And a large part of that is just so many people showing up to vote, which is what we hope for.”
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The new data show 77.8% of Idaho registered voters turned out in the 2024 general election. While that’s still high compared to past general elections, Idaho this year didn’t break the record voter turnout rate of 81.2% set in 2020.
This year, Idahoans cast 218,586 in person, early votes, compared to 173,317 absentee votes, data from the Idaho Secretary of State’s Office show; 90% of absentee ballots were returned.
Idaho has 1,178,750 total registered voters, with 1,057,735 registering before Election Day, the Secretary of State’s Office data show.
What types of ID cards did Idahoans use to register to vote?
About 98.1% of Idahoans — 663,202 people — used an Idaho driver’s license or ID card to register to vote, incomplete data by the Idaho Secretary of State’s Office shared with the Sun show. Another 1.5% of Idahoans — or 9,964 — used a passport or federal ID.
Only 0.2% of Idahoans used a personal ID affidavit, while another 0.2% used a concealed weapons license. Another 229 Idahoans registered using a tribal ID.
The data on the types of identification Idaho voters used to register to vote includes data from counties that use electronic pollbooks, representing 675,747 registered voters. McGrane said the data represents most in-person voters who voted early and on Election Day, but he said a handful of counties aren’t using e-pollbooks.
New Idaho laws passed in 2023 require Idaho drivers’ licenses or other official Idaho, federal or tribal ID cards for voter registration, but disallows student ID cards.
Since July 2023, the Idaho Transportation Department has offered free state ID cards to Idaho adults who don’t have a driver’s license to use for voting. The Idaho Capital Sun published a guide on how to get a free state ID card for voting.