Idaho Democrats will hold their presidential nominating caucus from 5-8 p.m. local time on May 23, giving Democrats across the state the chance to vote for their party’s presidential nominee. 

The caucus is new this year, and the Democrats are staging their caucus two days after the May 21 primary election. Idaho Republicans already conducted their presidential nominating caucus on March 2.

Although President Joe Biden secured enough delegates to clinch the Democratic Party’s nomination for president back in March, there are six candidates who have qualified to appear on the ballot for the Democratic caucus in the Gem State, said Jared DeLoof, executive director of the Idaho Democratic Party.

Those candidates are 

• Biden
• David Olscamp
• Jason Palmer
• Armando Perez-Serrato
• Dean Phillips
• Marianne Williamson

In addition to their choice of presidential candidates, Democrats will also vote on delegates to attend the Idaho Democratic Party’s summer convention, which runs June 22 through June 23 in Moscow, DeLoof said. 

What to expect at the Democratic presidential caucus

The locations of Democratic caucus sites are posted online. There is at least one caucus site in every county and voters must attend a caucus site in the county they are registered to vote in. For counties that feature more than one caucus site, such as Ada and Canyon counties, voters may go to any site they wish in their home county, DeLoof said. 

In order to vote in the Democrats’ caucus, voters must be affiliated with the Democratic Party or be an unaffiliated voter, DeLoof said. People can register to vote or change their party affiliation to the Democrats at the caucus site. But voters cannot participate in the Democrats’ caucus if they already participated in the Republican’s presidential caucus or any other presidential caucus this year, DeLoof said. Additionally, interested voters who are only 17 years old when the Democratic caucus takes place will be allowed to register to vote and participate in the caucus if they turn 18 before the Nov. 5 general election. Voters are also allowed to bring their younger children to accompany them and observe the caucus. 

The caucus will begin at 5 p.m. local time and will end at 8 p.m. DeLoof said anyone who is in line for a Democratic caucus at 8 p.m. will still be allowed to vote.

Once voters are checked in at their caucus site on May 23, they will be given a ballot to fill out and hand in, and then may leave if they wish. DeLoof said there will only be one round of voting, and the goal is for the entire process to take less than 10 minutes.

“The thing we have prioritized more than anything else is voters participating in ways that will be familiar to them and with the least amount of obstacles as possible,” DeLoof said in a telephone interview. 

The presidential caucus is new for Idaho voters this year because last year the Idaho Legislature seemingly unintentionally eliminated the presidential primary elections.

In 2023, the Idaho Legislature passed House BIll 138, which supporters said was designed to move the state’s presidential primary election back from March to take place in May with the other state primary elections. But instead of moving the presidential primary back, House Bill 138 eliminated the presidential primary election altogether. A so-called trailer bill that was designed to correct the issue did not advance out of the House State Affairs Committee at the end of the 2023 legislative session, and legislators could not agree to a special session in late 2023 to reinstate the presidential primary election. 

In response, the state’s political parties decided to conduct presidential nominating caucuses in absence of the primary election. 

“We did not want this caucus system,” DeLoof said. “We tried to work with Republicans to get this fixed because a caucus, quite frankly, is not a great way for folks to be able to cast a vote. We’re not happy with the system, but we are making the best of it.”

Primary elections and caucuses are different for many reasons. One of the reasons is that caucuses are run entirely by the political parties, not the state or counties. The Republican caucus also required all voters to attend their caucus in person and there was no exception for members of the military stationed out of state, religious missionaries, people who had to work, people who were traveling, people who had accessibility issues or people who lacked transportation.

On the other hand, the Democrats offer absentee ballots to voters who cannot participate in person due to military service, disability or illness, work, child care obligations, school, the inability to travel or other reasons. Voters can request an absentee ballot online, and the deadline to request an absentee ballot is 5 p.m. Mountain Time, May 16.

“We’re trying to make it as accessible as possible and ultimately make the best of a bad situation, and we look forward to seeing everyone at these events,” DeLoof said.  

Unlike the Republican caucus, news reporters will be allowed inside the Democratic caucus sites to observe and report on the process as long as they register for a credential with the Democratic Party, DeLoof said. Only registered Republicans and their children were allowed at the Republican’s caucus in March, meaning news reporters and independent observers who were not registered Republicans were not allowed to observe the GOP caucus. 

BOISE (Idaho Statesman) – An Idaho emergency physician and adventurous outdoorsman died Friday after being buried in an avalanche while skiing part of the state’s tallest mountain range.

Dr. Terrence “Terry” O’Connor, 48, of Ketchum, was skiing on Donaldson Peak in the Lost River Range when he triggered an avalanche at around 11,600 feet elevation. According to the Sawtooth Avalanche Center’s description of the incident, O’Connor was caught in a small avalanche that carried him downhill, burying him in the snow. The first avalanche triggered a second, larger avalanche.

The Sawtooth Avalanche Center said O’Connor’s skiing partner, who has not been identified publicly, called for help on a satellite communication device before using a transceiver device to locate O’Connor in the snow. She was able to dig O’Connor out of several feet of snow and perform CPR before search and rescue arrived.

RELATED | Idaho doctor killed in weekend avalanche

O’Connor is the third person to die in an avalanche in Idaho this year, according to the Colorado Avalanche Information Center.

O’Connor worked as an emergency room physician at the St. Luke’s Wood River Valley location in Hailey. He was frequently a source of information and encouragement during the COVID-19 pandemic, which hit Blaine County hard when the coronavirus first came to Idaho. Later, he applauded the community for having some of the highest vaccination rates in the country.

O’Connor was also a fellow of the American College of Emergency Physicians, a former Blaine County/Sawtooth Regional Emergency Medical Services director and member of the Idaho EMS Physician Commission.

“Terry was an outstanding physician and played a pivotal role in the early days of the COVID pandemic, really demonstrating the public health role of the EMS medical director within a community,” the Idaho EMS Physician Commission said in a Facebook post Saturday. “His loss will be missed not only in the valley itself but throughout the entire state and region.”

O’Connor was active in wilderness emergency medicine and held a Diploma in Mountain Medicine from the Wilderness Medical Society.

“Words cannot begin to express the kindness he bestowed, sacrifices he made, and the impact he had on the emergency and wilderness medicine communities he was a part of,” the Wilderness Medical Society said in a Facebook post.

He volunteered as a clinical faculty member teaching wilderness and environmental medicine at the University of Colorado’s Department of Emergency Medicine. He also oversaw the University of Colorado’s diploma program in climate medicine, which teaches clinicians how to address the health implications of climate change.

O’Connor was an experienced backcountry skier, runner and mountain climber, among other activities. He even wrote a blog post for University of Colorado on avalanche safety. A St. Luke’s article on O’Connor detailed his trips climbing Mt. Everest and his TEDx Talk on outdoor adventure, which reflected on the inherent dangers in many of the activities he loved. In it, he memorialized a close friend and climbing partner who died in an avalanche in the Canadian Rocky Mountains in 2006.

St. Luke’s also noted O’Connor’s work in countries like Nepal and India, where he traveled to provide medical care to people in need.

Fact: time is the most valuable commodity on earth. 

Rich or poor, young or old, ask anyone nearing the end of their earthly residence, and they’ll tell you the same thing. Once it’s gone, it’s gone. There’s no going back. No matter how hard we try, we’ll never relive those unforgettable moments of our past. 

Time is infinite, our lives aren’t.

All of us are on borrowed, limited time. And whether we know it or not, a good chunk of us are an elusive, global treasure hunt. But instead of jewels and riches, most of us are searching for years, more time, and more opportunities to make memories with the ones we love. 

The Fountain of Youth is legendary for good reason. 

Since the beginning of mankind, countless humans have embarked on the quest to find the elixir of life. Rituals, potions, selling their soul to the Devil himself–people have tried it all. 

Unless you know something we don’t know, we have yet to see anyone score a deal on immortality. That’s why it’s not about how many years we live, but how well we spent those years. 

Let’s a raise to our senior Idahoans making the most of their time….and may we live by their example.

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