Idaho certifies 2024 general election results, setting up Electoral College process

The Idaho State Board of Canvassers voted unanimously Tuesday at the Idaho State Capitol in Boise to certify Idaho’s 2024 general election results.

The Idaho State Board of Canvassers officially signed off on results of the Nov. 5 election after noting that none of the election outcomes changed following the county certifications and a random audit of ballots in eight Idaho counties.

In addition to none of the outcomes changing, none of the races in Idaho were within the 0.5% margin that qualifies for a free recount, Idaho Secretary of State Phil McGrane said.

“I’ve been involved in elections for a very long time,” McGrane said during Tuesday’s meeting of the Idaho State Board of Canvassers. “This was truly one of the smoothest elections that I’ve ever been part of — from leading into the election to going through it — and I think it’s really a credit to so many different people for us to be able to hold an election like this. I think the preparation and the very, very cooperative relationship that we have with the counties and the county clerks' offices has just been huge.”

The Idaho State Board of Canvassers consists of McGrane, Idaho State Treasurer Julie Ellsworth and Idaho State Controller Brandon Woolf.

Tuesday’s vote to certify Idaho’s election results also makes the 2024 general election the largest election in state history in terms of the number of voters who voted. Official numbers released following the canvass show that 917,469 voters cast ballots, beating the previous record of 878,527 from the 2020 general election.

Idaho law allows voters to register to vote and vote on Election Day. Final, official 2024 general election results showed there were 121,015 same-day registrations on Election Day. 

The number of same-day voter registrations this year was so large that if all 121,015 voters who participated in same-day voter registration created a new city, it would have been the third-largest city in Idaho, just between Meridian and Nampa.

Turnout for the 2024 general election came to 77.8%, trailing the 2020 general election record turnout of 81.2%.

The vote to certify Idaho’s election results Tuesday helps set the stage for the Electoral College process used to officially vote for the president and vice president of the United States.

“The purpose of today’s meeting, really, is to certify the results as official,” McGrane said. “So up until this point, all of the results have been unofficial for the state of Idaho. That includes everything from the presidential race, federal races and state races.”

Now that Idaho’s election results are official, state officials will send the results to Washington, D.C., McGrane said.

Then, on Dec. 17, Idaho’s electors will officially cast their votes for President-elect Donald Trump in the electoral college. 

Idaho has four electoral college votes — one for each of its members of the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate — and all four of Idaho’s electoral votes will go for Trump.

On Nov. 15, the Idaho State Board of Canvassers selected eight random Idaho counties for the audit, the Sun previously reported. The counties selected were Latah, Bingham, Elmore, Bear Lake, Custer, Minidoka, Clearwater and Jerome counties.

On Tuesday, Chief Deputy Secretary of State Nicole Fitzgerald said the audit results matched the unofficial election results completely in Bingham and Minidoka counties. But there were small discrepancies, poll worker errors, hand counting errors, labeling or organizational errors that the audit uncovered in six of the counties audited. None of the discrepancies — the largest of which involved 12 ballots in Elmore County — was large enough to change the outcome of any of the elections, McGrane said during the Idaho State Board of Canvassers meeting and again during a follow up interview with the Sun. 

For example, in Bear Lake County, Sen. Mark Harris, R-Soda Springs, lost one vote as a result of the audit, while his Democratic challenger Chris Riley gained one vote in the audit. Election officials Tuesday attributed the difference to a hand counting error on election night in Bear Lake County. The error did not change the outcome. Final election results show that Harris defeated Riley by a margin of 20,907 votes to 6,062.

In Custer County, Republican Sen.-elect Christy Zito lost one vote in the audit and her Democratic challenger David Hoag gained one vote due to what Fitzgerald described as an error in the hand-counting process on election night. That difference did not change the outcome either. Final election results show Zito won 17,750 votes to 6,859 votes.

In Elmore County, the audit was off by 12 ballots. Fitzgerald said there were 2,183 ballots reported in the five Elmore County precincts selected for the audit. But auditors only counted 2,171 ballots in the audit, Fitzgerald said.

The 12-vote discrepancy was likely due to issues and inconsistencies with the resolution board process on election night, Fitzgerald said. The resolution board comes in when a ballot is rejected as unreadable by voting machines due to an issue such as damage, stains, tears or some other issue where the resolution board is called in to take a look at the ballot to determine voter intent.

“What appears to have happened was that those ballots were just not very carefully labeled or organized on election night,” Fitzgerald said during Tuesday’s meeting. ”It was really difficult for our audit team to determine which ballots belonged in the audit count.”

After Tuesday’s meeting to certify election results, McGrane told the Sun some of the notes and records connected with the resolution board process in Elmore County were handwritten instead of printed.

McGrane told the Sun he believes all votes were counted properly and the issue came down to organization and record keeping and not being sure which ballots should be part of the audit count, which was a partial audit of Elmore County and the seven other counties, not a full audit.

McGrane and Fitzgerald said they do not believe a full audit is necessary in Elmore County, but they said state election officials will follow up with Elmore County election officials about the discrepancies.

“We are going out there and meeting with them so we can identify some opportunities for process improvement,” Fitzgerald said. 

The 12-vote discrepancy would not have changed the outcome of any election in Elmore County. The closest race Elmore County was involved in was a District 8 Idaho House race that Rep.-elect Faye Thompson won over her closest rival, Democrat Jared Dawson, by more than 9,800 votes in an election that included three other counties. All but one county level election was uncontested in Elmore County during the 2024 general election.