County Clerk reflects on primary, thanks poll workers

BONNERS FERRY — It takes a lot of time and coordination to make Election Day run smoothly, Boundary County Clerk Glenda Poston said in reviewing the May 21 primary election. 

This year brought a new request from the state of overvotes and undervotes, which created another layer of checking and information being gathered, she said. 

“An overvote is when you have a race and there are two candidates (or more) and each oval is marked, that is an “overvote.” The tabulator does tell the voter you have an over vote and does give the voter the opportunity to request a new ballot or cast the ballot as is,” she said. “An undervote is not voting on any candidate in a particular race.”

In Boundary County, there were 3,959 voters — roughly 51% of the county’s registered voters, of which 3,799 were Republicans. Of those voting, 3,780 votes were cast in the sheriff’s race with 19 voters choosing not to vote in the race, she said. 

“So while candidates and voters are anxiously awaiting the results it does take time to complete all of this, there are over 700 sections that need to be completed, checked and then double checked,” Poston said.

Since Boundary County does not have a central location to tabulate ballots, votes are counted at each of the seven precinct locations and called into the Boundary County Courthouse. 

“Calls can start anywhere from 8:10 p.m. to 9:10 p.m. or later,” she said. “It is a fast process and therefore we always wait to receive the tapes and then the staff at the courthouse will verify not once but twice and then usually a third time the next day. There is nothing worse than releasing something that has a wrong total on it, even if it is only one vote.”

Results for the primary election, on Tuesday, May 21 were finished around 10:30 p.m. that night. Staff left the courthouse by 11 p.m. and Poston said they, too, were curious and waiting to see who won the legislative races.

“One can never thank all the workers enough on Election Day,” Poston said. “While most work a full day (in excess of 15 hours) some will work a shorter shift. But regardless this is a long day of greeting voters, assisting, reconciling, and explaining the process all the time with a smile and thank you.”

Poston thanked Cherry Grainger, elections clerk, who works diligently on the preparation of the election.

“Boundary County owes her a great big thank you,” she said. “This is never an easy task which starts months before the actual election. This year we had 888 absentee votes cast. For the after election work, staff now need to scan in all of the 215 same-day registrations or changes and reconcile the poll books and election information.”

Poston also thanked the precinct judges of the election for their area: Linda Alt, Diana Tombleson, Linda Ashby, Linda Cromwell, Melanie Staples and Sandy Daniels. 

“These judges manage their precinct on Election Day. From setting up the area, swearing in their workers and knowing what all needs to happen and what can happen, to the end of the night of taking the site down, bringing back the supplies, balancing the books, gathering the ballots. But most importantly calling in the results, after their over-13-hour day,” she said. 

Additionally, courthouse maintenance staff Squire Fields and Mike Kralik set up and took down polling places. The process starts almost a week in advance. However, for Election Day, Kralik is sworn in as an election worker to assist at the polls. 

Mike Ashby and Bobby Raines led the poll workers on training day in the pledge, prayer and song, Poston said. 

It cost the county about $17,000 to run the primary election, with $11,000 going to pay 60 poll workers and $6,100 was associated with ballots. Poston noted that the money for poll workers, although included county staff, does not include the two months of staff labor leading up to the election. 

Compared to the last primary election in 2022 absentee ballots were up this year at 888 ballots compared to 772. May 2022 had a 48% voter turnout compared to this year's 51%. 

Due to Senate Bill 1244, the electioneering distance near poll places on Election Day increased from 100 feet to 250 feet within a polling area. 

Poston told the Herald that despite the new law, there were no electioneering issues at the polls in Boundary County.