BOISE, Idaho — Across Idaho on Tuesday, roughly 5,000 poll workers were stationed at nearly 800 polling places, Deputy Secretary of State Chad Houck said.
That included 46 emergency poll workers, who in some cases were flown in to provide support as some of the usual volunteers sat out this year due to COVID-19. Sixteen emergency poll workers were deployed to Twin Falls County, 14 to Kootenai County and 10 to Canyon County. The state used CARES Act to help cover the costs.
Election Day ran relatively smoothly with about a dozen hiccups, largely in Canyon and Kootenai counties, Houck said.
One of those issues drew a response by the Nampa Police Department, but all were dealt with within 5 to 10 minutes of being reported, he said.
RELATED: Live updates: Biden asks for patience while Trump claims victory, but results too close to call
Results on the Secretary of State’s website were in and out throughout Tuesday evening as the department’s website ran into issues. Those weren’t related to the volume of use on the website and were passed up to a Microsoft team managing the site, Houck said.
COVID-19 also presented issues with unmasked and COVID-positive voters, in some cases. The state left enforcement of local mask mandates up to local officials, since there isn’t a statewide mask mandate in Idaho. “There had to be an alternative method to get a ballot,” so a lot of curbside voting was offered Tuesday, Houck said.
In one case, a voter disclosed that they had tested positive for COVID-19 before voting, and after poll workers said they were uncomfortable serving the voter, a ballot was delivered to the voter’s house to fill out.
The Idaho Secretary of State’s Office also advised residents to disregard robocalls warning them to stay home on Election Day. The calls, which advised residents to “stay home, stay safe” were not from any official office. Some Idahoans received calls early Tuesday morning, and some said they came from a phone number with a local area code, according to a news release from the Idaho Secretary of State Lawerence Denney’s office.
Watch more Idaho politics:
See all of our latest political coverage in our YouTube playlist: