Election clerks hold conference in Burley to prepare to upcoming election

BURLEY, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) — Today’s annual Idaho Association County Recorders and Clerks Convention was held in Burley.

Clerks from all 44 counties in the state attended to discuss budgets, audits, and, most importantly, the November elections.

“As elected clerks, we wear so many hats and at this conference, we touch on all of our roles and responsibilities,” Twin Falls County Clerk Kristina Glascock said.

They gathered on Tuesday at a conference in Burley. The main speaker, Idaho Secretary of State Phil McGrane, talked to the state’s 44 clerks about preparations for October’s early voting and election day in November.

“The clerks are a key partner for us in running our elections,” McGrane said. “They’re the ones at the ground level running the polling places, recruiting the poll workers. And the Secretary of State and the Chief Election Official, our office works very closely with the clerks to make sure November elections is going to be a huge success.”

McGrane said that election security is one of the biggest things his office focuses on and will continue to be a priority, especially this year after an executive order allowing only citizens to vote was issued.

“Gov. Little issued an executive order regarding citizenship a little over a month ago,” McGrane said. “We’re looking at the process, to make sure that we have all the safeguards in place that only a citizen can register to vote. We’re also working with ITD and Homeland Security to go through a valid that there are no non-citizens on our voter rolls.”

The validation process will include verifying voter IDs, ensuring no felons are trying to vote, checking vital statistics to ensure no dead people are on the state’s voter rolls, and validating addresses and citizenship.

“That is our goal,” Glascock said, “to always make sure we are administering fair, safe and secure elections. We do everything in our control that we can in administering elections by following the directives from the Secretary of State. We use certified equipment, we do public test for the public, we try to be open and transparent to anybody who comes in and have questions about how we conduct the elections.”

The Secretary of State’s Office will also send voter pamphlets to every household at the end of September. The pamphlet will include the constitutional amendment. Other information will be online.

“Any voter can go to VoteIdaho.gov, see a sample of their ballot and what they’re voting on, this will all be leading up to the November election,” McGrane said. “VoteIdaho.gov will be a one stop shop, whether in Twin Falls County, or in Boundary County or Boise, they can all go to the same place, find their voter information, make sure they’re registered, request an absentee ballot, find their polling place, anything they need. We want to make sure Idahoans have all they can to vote this November.”

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