After winning the closest Idaho legislative primary election in years, Ben Fuhriman won’t let anyone tell him their vote doesn’t matter.

Following a free recount last month, Fuhriman was certified the winner of his primary election by four votes. Fuhriman is a Republican from the eastern Idaho town of Shelley. He defeated incumbent Rep. Julianne Young, R-Blackfoot, in the Republican primary election for Idaho House Seat B in Legislative District 30.

“The underlying story is that here in Idaho we tend to think our votes don’t matter because we are such a red state, and we get complacent with voting, especially at the national level,” Fuhriman said in a phone interview. “But we forget how important local elections are.”
Young could not be reached for comment.

Initial, unofficial election night results posted by the state late on the night of the May 21 primary election showed that Furhiman defeated Young by 10 votes. 

But when the county clerks conducted their normal review of election results, they discovered a discrepancy of eight votes in Butte County that dropped Fuhriman’s victory down to two votes, the Idaho Capital Sun previously reported. The Idaho Secretary of State’s Office said there was a discrepancy of eight votes when the data was entered into the state’s reporting system.

That two-vote margin was so close that it qualified for a free recount.

In an email message to her supporters on May 22, Young announced she would request a paid recount of the results because of how close the outcome was. But when the margin of victory dropped from 10 votes down to two, it meant the recount was free and Young didn’t have to pay. Under Idaho law, a losing candidate may request a free recount of the votes if the difference in votes between the candidates is within 0.1%, or five votes. 

Young issued a news release on June 5 announcing that she was formally requesting a recount.

“We observed significant variations in the vote count during the election, with my opponent’s lead fluctuating from 10 votes to a two-vote margin days after the election,” Young wrote. “Such variations raise concerns about the accuracy of the current vote count. The voters of Idaho deserve to have full confidence in the accuracy and security of their elections. By requesting this recount, we are putting to rest any questions regarding the outcome of this election. This due diligence in regard to elections is consistent with the Republican values we all cherish.”

Fuhriman said  he and Young have not spoken since the recount, which ran June 20 and June 21.

How did the primary election recount in Idaho work?

Legislative District 30 includes Butte and Bingham counties. The recount took place June 20 in Butte County and June 21 in Bingham County, Fuhriman said. 

Both candidates and an assistant were allowed to be present and observe the recount in both counties. Representatives from the Idaho Attorney General’s Office and Idaho Secretary of State’s Office were also there, Fuhriman said.
Before the recount began in Butte County, Fuhriman said the ballots were brought in in a locked box that had been in the custody of the county sheriff.

“You could feel confident that nobody had messed with the ballots,” Fuhriman said. 

Butte County counts ballots by hand. For the recount, elections officials and witnesses went through the ballots and again counted by hand, Fuhriman said. During the recount, one election official read the name of the candidate who received a vote on each ballot, while another election official watched the count to make sure the correct candidate’s name was called, Fuhriman said. Meanwhile, two other elections officials each record the count. The candidates and their assistants were allowed to watch the counts and keep their own tallies too, Fuhriman said. 

During the recount, Young received one fewer vote and Fuhriman received one more vote, bringing the difference to four votes. 

In Bingham County, ballots are scanned and counted by machine. During the June 21 recount in Bingham County, officials conducted a small hand recount to test the machines and then scanned all of the ballots. The recount produced the exact same total as on the night of the primary election in Bingham County, Fuhriman and Idaho Secretary of State Phil McGrane told the Sun.
As a result, final results from the recount showed Fuhriman won 3,764 to 3,760.

Going through a razor-thin election and recount gave Fuhriman an unusually close view of election policies and procedures, he said. 

“We have very secure elections; we have very good processes,” Fuhriman said. “With over 7,000 ballots in Bingham County, the recount produced the same results. That goes to show we are doing something right. People should feel comfortable and confident in Idaho elections. The process is fair, it’s secure and it’s safe.”

McGrane also said the recount demonstrates the safeguards built into Idaho elections. He said every step in the process worked as expected, from the routine county review of election results, to the recount. McGrane also said the election is an example of why the election results posted online on the night of the election are considered unofficial. Election results don’t become official in Idaho until after the county review and the results are certified by the State Board of Canvassers, which occurred June 5. 

“The recount really put an exclamation point on the processes we put in place,” McGrane said. “It should give people confidence as we head into the November election, knowing we have gone through these audits and recounts, and it is a testament to the county clerks clear across the state.”

Have there been other close races and recounts in Idaho?

McGrane said in a July 2 interview that recounts are common in Idaho, even in legislative races. In smaller local municipal races, the outcomes are so close that there are recounts every year, McGrane added.

Here are just some of the close legislative races in recent memory. 

• In the 2018 general election, a recount found that former Sen. Fred Martin defeated Democratic challenger Jim Bratnober by 11 votes in the District 15 Idaho Senate race, the Associated Press reported. Initially, election results showed Martin beating Bratnober by six votes.
• In the 2010 general election, current Idaho State Treasurer Julie Ellsworth defeated current Sen. Janie Ward-Engelking by seven votes in the District 18 Idaho House Seat A race, according to online state election results. 
• In the 2004 Republican primary election for District 33 Idaho House Seat B race, former Rep. Russ Mathews incumbent Rep. Lee Gagnier by six votes, according to online state election results. 

In the 1998 Republican primary election for District 14 Idaho House Seat A, current Speaker of the Idaho House Mike Moyle, R-Star, defeated incumbent Republican Rep. Dave Bivens by 14 votes in the year Moyle was first elected to the Idaho Legislature, online election records show.