Student Voting Guide | Idaho
Registration
http://www.idahovotes.gov/ (registration form available online)
The deadline for voter registration in advance of the election is 25 days before Election Day.[1] Mail-in registration forms must be postmarked by that date.[2]
Idaho also has Election Day registration, and allows voters to register to vote at the polls if they show proof of residence.[3] Proof of residence includes an Idaho state driver’s license or non-driver’s ID card, a student ID from an Idaho school plus a school fee statement that shows your registration address, or any document with your registration address and any photo ID card.[4] You may register to vote if you will be 18 by the next general election.
Residency
At School. Idaho’s formal laws make it difficult for students to establish residency. Under Idaho law, “residence” for voting purposes is a person’s “principal or primary home.”[5] Those who do not have plans to remain in the state indefinitely may not be able to establish residency. Your residence is your fixed place of habitation, the place where you intend to return after being away for any length of time.[6] The law explicitly states that a voter does not establish residence in Idaho if “he comes for temporary purposes only, without the intention of making it his home but with the intention of leaving it when he has accomplished the purpose that brought him there.”[7] Idaho has a “gain or loss” provision,[8] which means that physical presence within the state because of school is a “neutral factor” when making a residency determination.[9] In other words, the fact that you attend school in Idaho is not relevant to the determination of whether or not you are a resident, but the fact that you live there is. (As noted below, you can, however, use your school ID as proof of residence and fee statement with your school address for Election Day registration.)
The Secretary of State’s web site makes clear that these laws will be read strictly. That site states “that college students must establish, as with all other voter registration applicants, that the locale within which they seek to register and vote is their domicile, which means that they are living in the college community with the intention of abandoning their former domicile and with the intention of remaining permanently, or for an indefinite length of time, in the new location.”[10] While students who intend to return to their home states after completing school may have trouble registering and voting, if Idaho is definitely your intended domicile, uncertain future plans will not destroy residency.[11] Factors that election officials consider in determining residency include whether you live year-round in Idaho, keep personal property in Idaho, have an Idaho drivers license, are employed in Idaho, are a member of social and civil organizations in Idaho, have an Idaho-based bank account, and list your Idaho address on other government forms.[12]
At Home. Students who lived in Idaho but moved to another state for school, and who wish to establish or keep their Idaho voting residency (i.e., at their parents’ address), should have no problem doing so unless they have already registered to vote in another state. Like all states, Idaho allows students to keep their voting residency even if they move out of the county or state to attend school. The only way you will lose this residency is if you “abandon” it by asserting residency in a new state. While registering to vote in another state is not automatically considered an abandonment of residency in Idaho, some judges or officials might view it as such.
Challenges to Residency. The county clerk is the final decision maker regarding your registration. If an election official denies your registration, you can appeal to your county clerk for a review hearing.[13] This hearing must be held within 10 days of your appeal, and you have the right to present evidence on your behalf during the hearing.[14] The county clerk will make a final decision at the conclusion of the hearing.[15]
Your eligibility to vote can be challenged at the polls by partisan challengers or by registered voters in your precinct. If you declare yourself qualified under oath, you will be entitled to vote by regular ballot.[16]
Identification
Except for voters who register on Election Day, only first-time voters who register by mail whose identifying information cannot be verified by the state before Election Day have to show identification. That ID can be a current and valid photo ID; or a copy of a current utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck, or other government document that shows your name and address.[17] Idaho does not accept student IDs as photo IDs under this section unless they also have your address on them.[18] Cellular phone bills, online printouts of bills, and student housing bills with your registration address will all be accepted as valid ID, however.[19] Acceptable IDs for Election Day registrants are listed under “Registration” above.
Absentee Voting
http://www.idahovotes.gov/VoterReg/absentee.pdf
Any registered voter can vote absentee in any election in Idaho.[20] Absentee voting applications, which are available on the Secretary of State’s web site at the link above, can be submitted by mail or fax and must be received by the county clerk at least 6 days before Election Day.[21] Absentee ballots must be received by the county clerk by 8:00 p.m. on Election Day.[22]
Early Voting
As a convenience to voters, Idaho has early voting which begins as soon as ballots are available and ends at 5 pm on the Friday before Election Day.[23] At early voting sites, you can vote any precinct’s ballot for that county. If you do not consider your school address to be your permanent address, or if you have not changed your residence yet, then early voting provides an opportunity to vote a ballot at the residence from which you are absent.
Last Updated in April 2010
[1] Idaho Code Ann. § 34-408.
[2] Idaho Code Ann. § 34-410.
[3] Idaho Code Ann. § 34-408A.
[4] Idaho Code Ann. § 34-408A.
[5] Idaho Code Ann. § 34-107(1) (2010).
[6] Idaho Code Ann. § 34-107(1).
[7] Idaho Code Ann. § 34-107(4).
[8] Idaho Code Ann. § 34-405 (2009); Idaho Const. art. 6, § 5.
[9] Student and Voting Residency, Voter Information, Registration & Access, http://www.idahovotes.gov/VoterReg/Students_Voting%20Residency.htm (last visited on April 30, 2010).
[10] Id. (“As a student, you should not be registering and voting in your college locale simply because you failed to register and vote at your true domicile. Registering to vote is a serious matter which, if abused, can subject you to criminal penalties.”)
[11] Interview with Lisa Powers, Election Clerk, Idaho Secretary of State’s Office (Apr. 23, 2008).
[12] Student and Voting Residency, supra note 5.
[13] Idaho Code Ann. § 34-412(2) (2010).
[14] Idaho Code Ann. § 34-412(2).
[15] Idaho Code Ann. § 34-412(2).
[16] Idaho Code Ann. § 34-1111 (2010).
[17] Idaho Code Ann. § 34-410 (2007); see also Justin Levitt et al, Making the List: Database Matching and Verification Processes for Voter Registration ID-3 (2006), available at http://tinyurl.com66t6r8 (last visited April 7, 2010).
[18] Interview with Lisa Powers, Election Clerk, Idaho Secretary of State’s Office (Apr. 23, 2008).
[19] Interview with Lisa Powers, Election Clerk, Idaho Secretary of State’s Office (Apr. 23, 2008).
[20] Idaho Code Ann. § 34-1001 (2010).
[21] Idaho Code Ann. § 34-1002.
[22] Idaho Code Ann. § 34-1005.
[23] Idaho Votes, Absentee Registration and Voting available at http://www.idahovotes.gov/VoterReg/ABSENTEE.HTM.
