The Salmon School District in remote Central Idaho will finally get a new school.

After decades in which voters rejected every bond the district asked for, the community on Tuesday approved a $20 million bond to build a new pre-K-through-8 school with a resounding 72% support.

The election comes after the Idaho Statesman and ProPublica reported last year on how children across the state were learning in schools with freezing classrooms, leaking roofs and discolored water. Salmon was one of the most poignant examples — in the last two decades, the district failed to pass around a dozen bonds to replace its dilapidated schools. Idaho is one of just two states that require support from two-thirds of voters to pass a bond.

At Salmon’s Pioneer Elementary, the plumbing is failing, the floors are uneven and pose tripping hazards, and sewage sometimes backs up into a corner of the kitchen. Parts of the building aren’t accessible for students with disabilities. The foundation is crumbling.

Unable to pass a bond or to find other ways to fix these problems, the district turned to a state program created in 2006. It was one of only two districts ever to do so. But a state panel decided that Salmon’s problems — though bad enough to pose safety hazards — did not warrant a new school, only new roofs and seismic reinforcements. After that process, the district ultimately decided to close its middle school, which now sits abandoned beside the elementary school, surrounded by a razor-wire fence.

When the Statesman and ProPublica visited the elementary school last year, reporters saw many of the same problems the school had said it had about a decade ago, when it first applied for help from the state.

Over the past several months, a group called the Salmon Schools Needs Assessment Committee has been active on social media to provide information about the bond and share the challenges that the elementary school faces. In a Facebook post Wednesday, the committee said it was “overcome with gratitude and excitement.”

Jill Patton, the principal of the elementary school, said she is “deeply thankful” that the community came together to support the district’s schools. She praised the grassroots initiative spearheaded by the assessment committee.

The effort “involved a remarkable group that dedicated countless hours to understanding community concerns and identifying preferred solutions,” she said in an email. “They meticulously developed a plan that the community could rally behind.”

Since 2006, the news organizations reported, fewer than half of all Idaho school bonds have passed, but that 80% of them would have passed if a simple majority were required.

Idaho lawmakers considered a proposal that would have started the process to lower the vote threshold needed to pass a school bond, but the effort did not move forward during the legislative session.

Legislators did approve $2 billion in funding over a decade to repair and replace schools. The measure was signed by Republican Gov. Brad Little, who cited the investigation and called school funding “priority No. 1” in his State of the State address in January.

President Joe Biden cruised to victory in Thursday’s Idaho Democratic Caucus, claiming 95% of the votes to win the six-candidate caucus outright, the Idaho Democratic Party announced. 

Results released late Thursday night by the Idaho Democratic Party showed Biden won more votes than all the other candidates combined. 

• Biden: 2,297 votes, 95% 
• David Olscamp: 14 votes, 0.5%
• Jason Palmer: five votes, 0.2%
• Armando Perez-Serrato: three votes, 0.1%
• Dean Phillips: 14 votes, 0.5%
• Marianne Williamson: 79 votes, 3.28%

The Idaho Democratic Party reported there were 2,412 votes cast in Thursday’s caucus.

A total of 2,412 votes means turnout was exceedingly low on Thursday. However, calculating the percentage of voter turnout could be tricky because Democrats and unaffiliated voters were allowed to vote in the caucus.

The Idaho Secretary of State’s Office reports there are 125,585 registered Democratic voters in the state. Based only on the pool of 125,585 Democratic voters, turnout could be calculated at about 1.9%, but that calculation would ignore the fact that some unaffiliated voters did vote in the Democratic caucus. The Democratic Party did not indicate the number of unaffiliated voters who cast ballots Thursday.

Across the Gem State, there are 273,862 unaffiliated voters, according to the Idaho Secretary of State’s Office.

At any rate, Biden’s victory was never in doubt. As the incumbent president, Biden had already secured enough delegates to clinch the Democratic Party’s nomination for president.

The presidential caucus is new for Idaho voters this year because the Idaho Legislature seemingly unintentionally eliminated the presidential primary election in Idaho by passing House Bill 138 during the 2023 legislative session. The Idaho Republican Party held its presidential caucus on March 2. The Idaho Republican Party announced that former President Donald J. Trump won Idaho’s GOP caucus. 

Voters, officials say they prefer a primary election rather than a presidential caucus

Several Democratic caucus goers and elected officials told the Idaho Capital Sun that they would prefer to vote for president in a primary election instead of a separate caucus. 

“It seems pretty easy, but I don’t know why we have primaries and a caucus,” voter Sally Davies-Sexton told the Idaho Capital Sun after casting her vote for Biden at the Timberline High School caucus site in Boise on Thursday. “It’s just having two events, and then this is not exactly around the corner.”

Idaho’s primary election, which did not feature presidential candidates, took place earlier in the week on Tuesday.
Voter Mary Ruckh has volunteered as a poll worker and served as a chief elections judge at a polling site during Tuesday’s Idaho primary election. Ruckh rode her bicycle to the Timberline High School caucus site to vote for Biden, but said she would have preferred to vote in a primary election. Primary elections are run by county elections offices and the state, while a caucus is run by the political parties. 

“A primary – it’s so much more structured, it’s under the egis of government,” Ruckh said. 

Ruckh did say this year’s Democratic presidential caucus was a major  improvement over the most recent Democratic caucus in 2016, which was marred by long lines that many voters endured for hours. 

Idaho House Minority Leader Ilana Rubel, D-Boise, told the Sun on Thursday that the Idaho Legislature needs to reinstate a presidential primary. 

“We very much wanted a primary, because we were really concerned about the limitations on a caucus and whether that would restrict full participation,” Rubel said. 

“I certainly hope before the next presidential race that we are able to restore a primary,” Rubel added.

Idaho Democratic Party rules allowed voters who will turn 18 years old by the Nov. 5 general election to register to vote and vote in Thursday’s presidential caucus. 

Kennedy Fletcher, a 17-year-old first-time voter, received a round of applause from Democratic volunteers and other voters when she turned in her ballot Thursday night at Timberline High School. Fletcher told the Sun she is supporting Biden because of the clear differences between him and Trump. 

“I like getting involved politically. I know who I am going to vote for and everything, and I am really excited to vote in the actual presidential election,” Fletcher said. 

Idaho Democratic Party Chair Lauren Necochea, who is also the outgoing House assistant minority leader, said she wasn’t surprised to see Biden perform strongly in Thursday’s caucus. Necochea said the party will unify strongly behind Biden heading into the Nov. 5 Election Day. 

“President Biden is the only person who has beaten President Trump in a presidential election,” Necochea said. 

Idaho Democrats allowed absentee voting, media coverage

While the Idaho Republican Party’s March 2 caucus required voters to participate only in person, the Idaho Democratic Party allowed voters request and mail in an absentee ballot if they were unable to attend due to military or religious service, work, disability, illness, child care obligations or the inability to travel.

The Idaho Democratic Party also allowed news reporters to observe the caucus and interview voters. The Idaho Republican Party did not allow news reporters who are not affiliated with the Republican Party to observe its caucus.

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Idaho Democrats will caucus across the state Thursday to select their nominee for the White House, giving President Joe Biden more delegates after he already clinched his party’s 2024 nomination.

Caucusgoers also will elect delegates pledged to the nominee for the state convention, which will be held on June 22.

The caucus will run from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. local time — the state is divided between the Pacific and Mountain time zones — and will be structured a bit differently than previous Democratic caucuses. Instead of listening to speeches and moving to various parts of the room to show their support for a candidate, voters will be given ballots to fill out their choices.

Only registered Democrats and unaffiliated voters can participate in the Democratic caucus. Unaffiliated voters must first sign a pledge saying that they are participating as Democrats and that they have not participated in any other presidential nomination contest this year. Voters who are 17 years old are allowed to caucus as long as they will turn 18 before the general election on Nov. 5.

That’s different from Idaho’s Republican caucus, held earlier this year: The Republican caucus allowed only registered Republicans to vote, and they had to be at least 18 at the time of the caucus. Former President Donald Trump won all of Idaho’s 32 GOP delegates at the March 2 event.

The presidential caucus winner will face a steep hill to climb for Idaho’s general election. The Republican presidential candidate has won the deep-red state in every election since 1968.

Democrats in Idaho utilized caucuses for years but switched the presidential contest to a primary for 2020. Biden won with about 49% of the vote, compared with roughly 42% that went to U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

Both the Republican and the Democratic parties had to caucus this year, however, after state lawmakers inadvertently scrapped the state’s primaries during the 2023 legislative session. The error happened when lawmakers were trying to change the date of the state’s primary from March to May — but the new date wasn’t included in the bill.

By next year, Idaho’s closed presidential contests could become a thing of the past. A voter initiative that would open the state primaries and switch the state to a ranked-choice voting system is expected to be on the general election ballot this fall.