IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI)– Early voting for the Idaho Falls runoff election has been strong, with more than 1,080 in-person ballots cast and about 250 absentee ballots returned so far, but data shows that younger voters continue to have the lowest turnout.
“So for this run-off election, it has started very robust. We started last week on Thursday, and in the first through the first two days, we had over 800 people come and early vote. Right now we are at just over 1,087 voters at this point. Plus we have had about 250 mail absentee ballots returned to us out of over 1200 that we have mailed out so far,” Helena Welling, the election supervisor for Bonneville County, said.
Welling believes that this great turnout has been due to multiple positive factors, but especially because voters are eager to vote.
“They know who they’re voting for, they’ve already done it kind of once, and they may be just wanting to get it out of the way,” Welling said, “I think it has a lot to do with the fact that we don’t have an incumbent for the mayor. We had a lot of candidates for the council member seats. So there has been a lot of interest in there. And it seems like there’s a lot of strong opinions out there. And I do believe that people are wanting to get the voting done before the holidays hit.”
Despite the strong turnout for early voting, younger crowds stand as the lowest demographic for voters.
Welling reports that 1,858 voters are between the ages 18-34. While 3,548 fall within the 35-49 age group. The highest turnout comes from voters ages 65 and older, totaling 4,298.
The run-off election for Idaho Falls is on December 2nd.
For more information on where to vote and how to register, click HERE.
