County clears up write-in questions

BONNERS FERRY — Boundary County elections officials want to clear up any confusions caused by inaccuracies found in a recent political mailer.

The Hometown Idaho PAC sent out a mailer earlier in the week supporting their endorsed candidates, county officials said. On the mailer, the group warned voters to not write in a fictitious name claiming those ballots are “rejected” and rewritten on a new ballot and sent through the machine again.

Boundary County Elections Clerk Cherry Grainger said that is not accurate and said every ballot is reviewed by at least two election workers.

The machine scans the filled-in bubbles on the ballot. Election workers make sure a write-in is a certified write-in candidate for that race, Grainger said.

If a name other than the certified candidate is written, then the vote for that race is not counted. However the whole ballot is not rejected, only the vote for that particular race, she added.

The ballot will provide voting instruction. to vote, fill in the oval next to the candidate of your choice. To vote for a "Write-in," fill in the oval next to the blank write-in line and write the name of your choice on the blank write-in line.