Bannock County overspent for 2016 presidential primary

The day after Idaho’s closed Republican primary in Bannock County, election officials are still annoyed with the low voter turnout.

“It’s disappointing to say the least,” said Bannock County election administrator Julie Hancock.

The county spent around $90,000 of taxpayer money for the primary. $36,000 went to staffing the polling places, around $10,000 went to buying ballots, $12,000 was used to license vote counting machines, and $5,000 was used for new signage.

The elections office is still calculating exactly how the rest of the $90,000 was spent, but election officials say not all of the money needed to be used.

Since it was the first time a closed primary was held in March, Hancock said it was difficult to gauge how the turnout would go.

She said the office used the May 2014 primary as a base, where 70 percent of Republicans voted. For Tuesday’s primary, only 22.8 percent of Republicans voted.

Idaho House Minority Leader John Rusche, D-Lewiston, spoke against the primary when it was first introduced as legislation in the 2015 session.

“If (the Republican candidate race) wasn’t that contested, (the Republican party) wouldn’t get near the turnout they had,” said Rusche. “It’s a waste of $2 million to have a ‘Republican beauty contest.'”

Pocatello residents agree with Rusche.

“It’s disappointing to see that amount of taxpayer money spent by taxpayers and then not have the taxpayers who have the opportunity to get out there (to vote),” said Elmer Martinez.

After hearing how much the primary costed the county, resident Marie Corn was worried about how many other counties this could have happened to.

“It’s really sad, it’s stressing to me that we’re paying for this and (our money) could’ve been spent other ways more beneficial to us,” said Corn.

Around $2 million was set aside for this primary. Hancock said it’s possible some of the money could come back to the county to reimburse some primary costs.