How southeast Idaho counties are combating voter Intimidation

This year’s election has been very polarizing, and voter intimidation was seen as a huge possibility Tuesday night. Many election officials are on the lookout for voter intimidation, especially due to the big turnouts seen in Bonneville and Bingham counties.

“It has been constant. From the minute we opened the polls at 8 a.m., we had a line up at the door, and it has not let up since,” said Bingham County Chief Judge Linda Bigler.

“It’s actually been really busy today. We’ve had a very steady flow. We’ve averaged a lot more voters than we normally see in our district,” said election worker Kaylynn Gorder.

No matter the turnout, election officials are wary of the possibility of voter intimidation.

“We have a troubleshooter that actually looks for this. We all are aware of it — we’re all watching for it, but the troubleshooter specifically will walk around the whole area just to make sure that this isn’t happening,” said Bigler.

If it happens, it will be reported to the county.

“First we talk to our Chief Judge and see what we need to do. And if there’s an issue here in our precinct we would try to handle it on our own site. If it was a larger issue, we would refer them to the county,” said Gorder.

But not to worry, voter intimidation at the polls isn’t as common in Bingham County.

“We have never had a problem with it before in our district,” said Gorder.

“It’s a great process. Everyone has been so happy with it. It’s a good feeling here. It’s such an important thing to do and don’t let any fear keep you from coming out,” said Bigler.

Many elections and law enforcement officials are worried intimidation and fighting that may break out at polls all over the country. But with Idaho being a Republican state, many don’t believe it’ll be a deal in southeast Idaho.