BOISE (Idaho Capital Sun) — The Idaho State Board of Canvassers voted unanimously Tuesday at the Idaho State Capitol in Boise to certify Idaho’s 2024 general election results.

The Idaho State Board of Canvassers officially signed off on results of the Nov. 5, 2024, election after noting that none of the election outcomes changed following the county certifications and a random audit of ballots in eight Idaho counties.

In addition to none of the outcomes changing, none of the races in Idaho were within the 0.5% margin that qualifies for a free recount, Idaho Secretary of State Phil McGrane said.

“I’ve been involved in elections for a very long time,” McGrane said during Tuesday’s meeting of the Idaho State Board of Canvassers. “This was truly one of the smoothest elections that I’ve ever been part of – from leading into the election to going through it – and I think it’s really a credit to so many different people for us to be able to hold an election like this. I think the preparation and the very, very cooperative relationship that we have with the counties and the county clerks offices has just been huge.”

The Idaho State Board of Canvassers consists of McGrane, Idaho State Treasurer Julie Ellsworth and Idaho State Controller Brandon Woolf.

Record number of Idaho voters voted in 2024 general election

Tuesday’s vote to certify Idaho’s election results also makes the 2024 general election the largest election in state history in terms of the number of voters who voted. Official numbers released following the canvass show that 917,469 voters cast ballots, beating the previous record of 878,527 from the 2020 general election.

Idaho law allows voters to register to vote and vote on Election Day. Final, official 2024 general election results showed there were 121,015 same-day registrations on Election Day. 

The number of same-day voter registrations this year was so large that if all 121,015 voters who participated in same-day voter registration created a new city, it would have been the third-largest city in Idaho, just between Meridian and Nampa.

Turnout for the 2024 general election came to 77.8%, trailing the 2020 general election record turnout of 81.2%.

Certifying Idaho election results sets stage for Electoral College to meet 

The vote to certify Idaho’s election results Tuesday helps set the stage for the Electoral College process used to officially vote for the president and vice president of the United States.

“The purpose of today’s meeting, really, is to certify the results as official,” McGrane said. “So up until this point, all of the results have been unofficial for the state of Idaho. That includes everything from the presidential race, federal races and state races.”

Now that Idaho’s election results are official, state officials will send the results to Washington, D.C., McGrane said.

Then, on Dec. 17, Idaho’s electors will officially cast their votes for President-elect Donald Trump in the electoral college. 

Idaho has four electoral college votes –  one for each of its members of the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate – and all four of Idaho’s electoral votes will go for Trump.

Election audit uncovers poll worker errors, disorganized records

On Nov. 15, the Idaho State Board of Canvassers selected eight random Idaho counties for the audit, the Sun previously reported. The counties selected were Latah, Bingham, Elmore, Bear Lake, Custer, Minidoka, Clearwater and Jerome counties.

On Tuesday, Chief Deputy Secretary of State Nicole Fitzgerald said the audit results matched the unofficial election results completely in Bingham and Minidoka counties. But there were small discrepancies, poll worker errors, hand counting errors, labeling or organizational errors that the audit uncovered in six of the counties audited. None of the discrepancies – the largest of which involved 12 ballots in Elmore County – was large enough to change the outcome of any of the elections, McGrane said during the Idaho State Board of Canvassers meeting and again during a follow up interview with the Sun. 

For example, in Bear Lake County, Sen. Mark Harris, R-Soda Springs, lost one vote as a result of the audit, while his Democratic challenger Chris Riley gained one vote in the audit. Election officials on Tuesday attributed the difference to a hand counting error on election night in Bear Lake County. The error did not change the outcome. Final election results show that Harris defeated Riley by a margin of 20,907 votes to 6,062.

In Custer County, Republican Sen.-elect Christy Zito, lost one vote in the audit and her Democratic challenger David Hoag gained one vote due to what Fitzgerald described as an error in the hand-counting process on election night. That difference did not change the outcome either. Final election results show Zito won 17,750 votes to 6,859 votes.

In Elmore County, the audit was off by 12 ballots. Fitzgerald said there were 2,183 ballots reported in the five Elmore County precincts selected for the audit. But auditors only counted 2,171 ballots in the audit, Fitzgerald said.

The 12-vote discrepancy was likely due to issues and inconsistencies with the resolution board process on election night, Fitzgerald said. The resolution board comes in when a ballot is rejected as unreadable by voting machines due to an issue such as damage, stains, tears or some other issue where the resolution board is called in to take a look at the ballot to determine voter intent.

“What appears to have happened was that those ballots were just not very carefully labeled or organized on election night,” Fitzgerald said during Tuesday’s meeting.”It was really difficult for our audit team to determine which ballots belonged in the audit count.”

After Tuesday’s meeting to certify election results, McGrane told the Sun some of the notes and records connected with the resolution board process in Elmore County were handwritten instead of printed.

McGrane told the Sun he believes all votes were counted properly and the issue came down to organization and record keeping and not being sure which ballots should be part of the audit count, which was a partial audit of Elmore County and the seven other counties, not a full audit.

McGrane and Fitzgerald said they do not believe a full audit is necessary in Elmore County, but they said state election officials will follow up with Elmore County election officials about the discrepancies.

“We are going out there and meeting with them so we can identify some opportunities for process improvement,” Fitzgerald said. 

The 12 vote discrepancy would not have changed the outcome of any election in Elmore County. The closest race Elmore County was involved in was a District 8 Idaho House race that Rep.-elect Faye Thompson won over her closest rival, Democrat Jared Dawson, by more than 9,800 votes in an election that included three other counties. All but one county level election was uncontested in Elmore County during the 2024 general election.

The following is a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office (Idaho).

BOISE – A federal grand jury in Boise returned an indictment on Nov. 13, charging Luke James Estep, 27, of Boise, with dealing firearms without a license, U.S. Attorney Josh Hurwit announced.

The two-count indictment alleges that in October 2024, Estep, who is not a licensed firearms dealer, was selling firearms. If convicted, he faces a maximum of five years in federal prison and up to a $250,000 fine. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Estep was arrested on Nov. 14 and booked with the Ada County Jail. Estep appeared on Monday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Debora K. Grasham and entered a plea of not guilty. A jury trial is scheduled for Jan. 6, 2025, at the federal courthouse in Boise, before Senior U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill.

This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Meridian Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Katherine Horwitz is prosecuting the case.

Whether you’re traveling by plane, train or automobile, Idahoans are ready to travel over the Thanksgiving holiday. AAA estimates that nearly 464,000 Idahoans will celebrate the holiday somewhere at least 50 minutes from their hometown. 

If you’re one of the Idahoans traveling by car, AAA says that if you want to avoid heavy traffic the best time to hit the road is in the early morning November 26-December 2. They also expect Thanksgiving Day itself to have low traffic volume all day. The heaviest traffic is anticipated on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons when the regular afternoon commute blends together with holiday travel. 

READ MORE: Idaho TSA Says No To These Banned Thanksgiving Items 

So where are Idahoans headed for the Thanksgiving holiday this year? This time around Anaheim, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, Seattle, Honolulu, Phoenix, San Diego, Bend, Ft. Lauderdale and Jackson are the Top 10 domestic destinations for Idahoans.  Some of these cities are destinations that will keep the family busy. Others are relaxation destinations. Each of them offers something cool in their own right, but unfortunately there are several that have the dishonor of being on the list of the most “Bed Bug Infested Cities in America.” 

How Dangerous are Bed Bugs?

These little blood suckers aren’t known to spread diseases like West Nile Virus or Dengue like mosquitoes do. They’re more annoying than anything else. The CDC explains that if you become a bed bug buffet overnight, you may not realize it when you wake up. Before enjoying your blood, bed bugs inject you with an anesthetic and an anticoagulant so it’s highly unlikely that the bite would wake you up or leave behind evidence that you were bleeding. A few days later, those bites may swell or become itchy like other bug bites. Bed bugs have also been linked to more serious, non-visible symptoms like insomnia and anxiety. 

Why Are Bed Bugs a Travel Concern?

Well, bed bugs are sneaky travelers themselves. Their bodies are skiing and flat, which means they can creep into everything from seams of your luggage, to folds of your clothes or inside a pillowcase on the pillow you brought from home. They can go quite a while without feeding, so they’ll just hang out and wait till you unpack your belongings at home. That’s when they’ll emerge, enjoy you as a meal again and start to spread in your bedding, furniture or other areas of your home. 

When you travel to areas known to have a high infestation, your risk of bringing them home rises. This list is important to check because bed bugs aren’t prejudiced. They’re just as likely to infest an upscale room at a luxury hotel as they are college dorm rooms and homeless shelters. 

How Can I Tell If My Room Is Infested with Bed Bugs?

They’re tiny, so detecting them with just your eyes can be difficult. They’re also known to hide in more areas than we listed above. Cracks, crevices, indentations in headboards or behind wallpaper are also popular hiding spots for bed bugs. The most tell-tale sign that a room has a bed bug issue is rusty colored blood spots on the mattress or furniture. (And if you’re not asking questions about blood stains in your hotel room or Airbnb, we’ve got questions for you.) You may also find their molted exoskeletons or smell a sweet, musty odor. 

3(ish) of Idaho’s Thanksgiving Destinations Rank Among America’s Most Bed Bug Infested Cities

Orkin releases an annual bed bug report which ranks cities based on the number of bed bug treatments they performed between December 1, 2022 and November 30, 2023. We cross referenced that with AAA’s list of most most popular Thanksgiving destinations for Idahoans and discovered that three-ish of the cities overlap. 

Seattle ranks as the #4 most popular Thanksgiving destination for Idahoans this year. It also ranks #44 for bed bugs. 

What happens in Vegas may stay in Vegas…except for bed bugs. Vegas is the second most popular Thanksgiving destination for Idahoans and made the bed bug report for the first time. You’ll find Sin City at #35. 

And finally we say “three-ish” because while Anaheim, Idaho’s #1 destination Thanksgiving 2024 doesn’t appear on the list, but nearby Los Angeles does. They’re #5 for bed bugs! 

Planning a trip elsewhere? Here’s a look at Orkin’s full list to help you prepare to be on the lookout for signs of bed bug infestations when you arrive at your hotel or Airbnb.