Idaho Secretary of State forgot to budget for primary

Idaho Secretary of State Lawerence Denney forgot to include money for the 2020 presidential primary in his budget, forcing legislative budget writers to scramble to find $2 million when the error was noticed.

The Idaho Press reports Denney failed to request the $2 million that will be needed next year to reimburse counties for the cost of holding the primary. The state is required by law to reimburse the counties for that expense, so Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee members scrambled to find a place to pull the funds. Ultimately, they were forced to pull the forgotten line item from the general fund.

Denney said it simply “slipped through the cracks,” noting that the funding for the primary in 2016 was included in the 2015 legislation that created the stand-alone primary and required the state to pick up the costs.