'Best' polls now open

The polls are now open. The 2018 Best of Bonner County voting began at 12:01 a.m. today and will close at midnight Saturday, June 23.

Winners will be notified the first week of July, and the general public will be told loud and clear July 26 in a special edition of the Bonner County Daily Bee.

“We had awesome public participation during three full weeks of the nomination process,” said Alsy Brinkmeyer, general manager and advertising director for the Daily Bee.

“We then took time to review every nomination to ensure those businesses are providing the services they were nominated for. We’re confident that the ballot voters see today is an accurate reflection of what consumers had in mind.”

Brinkmeyer said that in the past, attempts to stack the ballot couldn’t always be detected or eradicated. The Best of Bonner County competition this year employs new technology and a new process to weed out ballot-stacking attempts.

According to Brinkmeyer, voters going to bonnercountydailybee.com/bestof will see up to five nominations in each of 109 different categories. Because the software accurately tracks email addresses — clearing cache or history won’t wipe the slate clean — voters can vote for just one nominee in each category.

“One email address,” Brinkmeyer said, “one vote.”

She noted that voters can leave the site at any time during the voting period and come back and vote some more, but not on any categories they’ve already voted on.

“This is a way for winning businesses to speak to their loyal customers and newcomers alike, people who are all looking for the best of the best,” she said.

To vote, go to: bonnercountydailybee.com/bestof