Idaho
Election 2024: 146,000 Idaho voters and counting have already voted by absentee ballot • Idaho Capital Sun
With five days to go until the 2024 general election, nearly 150,000 Idaho voters have already voted by absentee ballot, according to the Idaho Secretary of State’s Office.
As of Thursday afternoon, 146,139 Idahoans had cast their vote by absentee ballot, surpassing the total number of votes by absentee ballot in the 2022 election.
Idaho’s U.S. Attorney’s office announces election complaints program
During the 2022 general election, which was not a presidential election, 129,210 Idahoans voted by absentee ballot, according to the Idaho Secretary of State’s Office.
An additional 173,795 Idaho voters had participated in early voting for the 2024 election, as of Wednesday.
“With Idahoans showing up in large numbers for early voting and absentee, we are on the path to a historic turnout for the Nov. 5 general election,” Secretary of State Phil McGrane said in a written statement Wednesday. “I encourage every eligible voter to make a plan, whether it’s early voting through Friday, returning an absentee ballot, or heading to the polls on Election Day.”
About 23% of absentee ballots requested have not yet been returned, so the number of votes by absentee ballot is likely to continue to increase until polls close on Election Day.
Most of the voters who have voted by absentee ballot are Republicans. According to the Idaho Secretary of State’s Office, 82,059 of the absentee ballots that have been returned for the 2024 general election are from registered Republicans. That compares to 33,727 ballots from unaffiliated voters, 29,276 from registered Democrats, 791 from Libertarians and 286 from Constitution Party members.
In an interview Thursday at the Idaho State Capitol in Boise, McGrane said he has been most surprised and impressed by the 173,795 early in-person early votes.
“One of things that I have found most interesting this election is that as of right now, we have more early votes cast than we do absentee ballots cast, and I think if this trend continues today and tomorrow, I think this might be the first election where early voting surpassing absentee voting,” McGrane said. “And that is noteworthy.”
McGrane said he attributes the increase in early voting to voters simply feeling more comfortable voting that way.
“I think we are feeling the energy around early voting this cycle,” McGrane said.
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Idaho legislators have sought to restrict absentee voting
Even though absentee voting is popular in Idaho, some Idaho legislators have sought to restrict absentee voting.
In 2023 and 2024, the Idaho Legislature’s House State Affairs Committee introduced bills sponsored by Reps. Joe Alfieri, R-Coeur d’Alene, and Mike Kingsley, R-Lewiston, respectively, that would have limited who was eligible to request an absentee ballot. Ultimately, the Idaho House killed Alfieri’s bill, House Bill 205, the Idaho Capital Sun previously reported, while Kingsley’s bill, House Bill 667, was sent out for possible amendments and never advanced.
In 2023 the Idaho House passed a different bill, House Bill 259, which would have restricted who could distribute absentee ballot request forms. The Idaho Senate never took House Bill 259 up, which died when the 2023 session adjourned.
All absentee ballots must be received by county elections office before polls close Nov. 5
The deadline to request an absentee ballot in Idaho was Oct. 25. As of Thursday, about 76.7% Idaho absentee ballots that were requested have been returned. Idaho voters must return their completed absentee ballot to their county’s elections office by the time polls close at 8 p.m. local time on Election Day, Nov. 5. On Wednesday, the Idaho Secretary of States Office asked voters who have not yet returned their ballots to use an official elections drop box or take their absentee ballot to their county elections office.
“It is now too late to mail absentee ballots to guarantee arrival by the deadline on Election Day,” the Idaho Secretary of State’s Office said in a press release issued Wednesday.
For Idahoans who do not vote early or by absentee ballot, polls will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. local time for those voting in person on Election Day. Residents can register to vote at the polls in Idaho. To register to vote in person, voters will need a current photo ID and proof of residence.
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Idaho
Gov. Little signs bill ending license plate registration stickers in Idaho
Gov. Brad Little has signed House Bill 533, which would remove the need for license plate stickers on Idaho vehicles.
The legislation, introduced earlier this session by Rep. Jon Weber (R) of Boise, eliminates the requirement for registration stickers on Idaho license plates. Weber stated during the bills intorduction that officers can verify the status of license plates without the stickers, potentially saving the state around $300,000.
During the bill’s introduction, some lawmakers argued that it could increase the workload for law enforcement.
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The new law is set to take effect in July.
Idaho
Idaho resolution opposing same-sex marriage advances
For the second year in a row, House lawmakers will consider urging the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn its ruling legalizing same-sex marriage.
The nonbinding resolution, which carries no legal weight, says the decision in Obergefel v. Hodges violates the longstanding religious definition of marriage between one man and one woman.
“The current definition of marriage that allows for same-sex marriages is a defilement of the word marriage,” said Rep. Tony Wisniewski (R-Post Falls), who sponsors the measure.
The resolution further states that the Obergefel decision “arbitrarily and unjustly” rejects the historical definition of marriage.
Idaho voters passed a constitution amendment in 2006 that defines marriage as between one man and one woman, which was invalidated by the Obergefel ruling.
Wisniewski said regulating marriages should be a power left to the states.
Rep. Brent Crane (R-Nampa) agrees.
“If you want to get things … closer to the people with respect to some of these more complex social issues, I think the best place for those things to happen is in the states,” Crane said.
Doing so is a risk, he said.
“You may have states that choose to acknowledge [polyamorous relationships]. You may have states that choose to have relationships between adults and younger children,” Crane said.
Cities in neighboring Oregon and Washington, for example, are considering giving those in polyamorous relationships legal recognition.
But he said that risk is worth it to allow other states that choose to only recognize traditional marriages.
Four lawmakers on the House State Affairs Committee opposed the resolution.
Rep. Erin Bingham (R-Idaho Falls) said she’s tried to balance her own religious beliefs with those of others while considering the measure.
“I do feel like that it is important for us to work together, to find ways to compromise and to live together in peace and mutual respect,” Bingham said.
The resolution now goes to the House floor for consideration.
House lawmakers last year passed a similar measure, but it never received a hearing in a Senate committee.
Copyright 2026 Boise State Public Radio
Idaho
University of Idaho professor awarded $10M after TikTok tarot influencer claimed she ‘ordered’ quadruple murders
A University of Idaho professor won a $10 million judgment after a tarot TikTok influencer publicly pushed false claims that she was behind the savage quadruple slayings of four college students.
A Boise jury in US District Court ordered fortune-telling Texas TikToker Ashley Guillard on Friday to pay $10 million after concluding she falsely accused professor Rebecca Scofield of having a secret romance with one of the four victims and orchestrating their killings, the Idaho Statesman reported.
Following the verdict, Scofield thanked the jury and said she hopes the case sends a clear warning that making “false statements online have consequences in the real world.”
“The murders of the four students on November 13, 2022, were the darkest chapter in our university’s history,” Scofield told Fox News.
“Today’s decision shows that respect and care should always be granted to victims during these tragedies. I am hopeful that this difficult chapter in my life is over, and I can return to a more normal life with my family and the wonderful Moscow community.”
Scofield, the university’s history department chair, filed the lawsuit in December 2022 — just weeks after Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin were brutally stabbed to death at an off-campus rental home in Moscow, Idaho, on Nov. 13, 2022.
Guillard began uploading videos to her more than 100,000 TikTok followers in late November 2022, accusing Scofield of a secret relationship with one of the students and claiming she had “ordered” the killings, garnering millions of views across the social media platform.
The complaint states that Scofield had never met the victims and was out of state when the murders occurred.
Even after being served with cease-and-desist letters and after police publicly confirmed Scofield had no connection to the murders, the Houston-based tarot reader continued posting videos, the history professor’s legal team argued.
Guillard doubled down on her accusations against Scofield after being sued, posting a defiant video saying, “I am not stopping,” and challenging why Scofield needed three lawyers to sue her “if she’s so innocent.”
The professor’s legal team argued the defamatory accusations painted her as a criminal and accused her of professional misconduct that could derail her career.
Bryan Kohberger, then studying criminology at Washington State University, pleaded guilty in July 2025 to the quadruple murders in a deal that took the death penalty off the table. He is currently serving four consecutive life sentences in Idaho.
In June 2024, Chief US Magistrate Judge Raymond Patricco found Guillard’s statements legally defamatory, leaving damages to be decided by a jury.
During the damages trial, Scofield described the anguish of seeing her name tied to the murders online, the Idaho Statesman reported.
However, Guillard, acting as her own attorney, insisted her comments were simply beliefs based on tarot card readings.
She claimed to have psychic powers and testified that she relied on tarot cards to try to solve the shocking homicides that shook the rural college town and sparked global attention.
It took jurors less than two hours to return their verdict, the outlet reported.
The jury awarded Scofield $7.5 million in punitive damages in addition to $2.5 million in compensatory damages.
With Post wires
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