PARTY AFFILIATION CHANGES for MAY 2026 PRIMARY ELECTION

*Deadline March 13, 2026

register/update Voter Registration

Idaho Secretary of State’s Office:

The above link (Idaho Votes button) is a resourceful tool to do the following items;

• Register to vote, see if you are registered to vote,  and check your current address.
• Request an Absentee Ballot; for one election or for all year.  See below for more information.
• Check the status of your absentee ballot request.
• Check where your polling place is located. You must be a qualified elector to register to vote at your place of residence.
• Check or change your affiliation.  See below for more information.
• The information on the site is supplied from the County to the Secretary of State and is updated often.

If you have any questions regarding elections, please call 392-4431 Ext. 208 

---

• If you would like to participate in the Elections as a pollworker here is the link to apply.  This is a great opportunity to serve your community.  

https://voteidaho.gov/poll-workers/

 

---

AFFILIATION SELECTION 
Effective July 1, 2011, Idaho Code 34-404 … every registered voter is to choose their political party that they will be associated with. If you do not make a choice, you will automatically be assigned an “unaffiliated” status. You can choose your party when you vote at the next primary election, change it online or you may fill out a affiliation change form and mail to our office: Boise County Elections, PO Box 1300, Idaho City, ID 83631.

ID REQUIRED FOR VOTING
Voting Identification Requirements

Voting Identification Requirements will change July 1, 2023.  Absent from the current list will be student ID cards.  However, Idaho Code 49-2444(22) will require ITD to issue free ID cards.  Electors can use these free ID cards to both register to vote and to vote at the polls.

 

2026  Elections Calendar Boise County

Election Calendar 2026 pdf

ELECTION DATES
The County Clerk is the Chief Registration Official for the County and is in charge of all Federal, State, Taxing District Elections and Boise County Elections. The four (4) election dates per year are:

• March Election has been eliminated  as of March 31, 2023. Per 2023 Legislative House Bill 292
• August Election has been eliminated as of July 1, 2024.  Per 2024 Legislation House Bill 421
• The 3rd Tuesday in May (Primary Election and/or taxing districts elections).
• The Tuesday following the 1st Monday in November (General Election and/or taxing districts elections).
• and/or Special Emergency Election.

---

ABSENTEE VOTING INFORMATION
If you request an absentee ballot for a full year of voting, you must submit a new request every year even though you will always be voting absentee.

To request an absentee ballot the online process is the quickest and easiest way. Use this link Secretary of State/Voting Registration . Though if you choose to fill out a  paper application, the entire absentee application must be filled out (including phone number) and mailed to Boise County Clerks Office Attn:  Elections,  PO Box 1300 Idaho City, ID 83631 or bring to the Clerk’s office at 420 Main St., Idaho City.  Mailed absentee ballot requests must be received no later than eleven (11) days prior to an election by 5 p.m. You cannot physically take any ballots out of the County Office.

---

SUNSHINE – IDAHO’S CAMPAIGN FINANCE SYSTEM

• Idaho’s Campaign Finance System

Candidates filing for County office positions do so in the Clerks Office at 420 Main St., Idaho City.  Please see the above Campaign Finance Filing link for the required financial reporting and Sunshine Law.

---

The following locations can help you register to vote prior to the deadline for the election. The County Clerk’s Office –420 Main St. Idaho City, ID or online at VoteIdaho.gov

Election Day registration is available at Polling Locations.

Voting Guide for Young Voters

POLLING PLACES FOR BOISE COUNTY CONDUCTED ELECTIONS

Garden Valley Precinct #30
LDS Church
950 Banks Lowman Road
Garden Valley, Idaho 83622

Horseshoe Bend Precinct #40
Mutual Improvement Club (Formally known as the Ladies’ Auxiliary Building)
121 W. Boise St.
Horseshoe Bend, Idaho 83629

Idaho City Precinct #50
Boise County Courthouse
Idaho City
419 Main Street
Idaho City, Idaho 83631

Lowman Precinct #60
Lowman Emergency Services
8000 Hwy 21 – Station #80
Lowman, Idaho 83637

Mores Creek Precinct #70
Wilderness Ranch Fire Station
46 Wilderness Ranch Road
Boise, Idaho 83716

Placerville Precinct #80
Centerville Fire Station
115 Grimes Pass Rd.
Centerville, Idaho 83631

Absentee Voting
Boise County Recorder’s Office
420 Main Street
Idaho City, Idaho 83631

Boise County is a paper ballot county. Sample Ballots are available at the Clerks Office prior to the election date. The Election Department produces poll books and maintains an up-to date list of registered voters, as well as voting history. Candidates filing for County office positions do so in the Clerks Office at 420 Main St., Idaho City.

Each polling place has a ballot marking device which can assist disabled voters in marking their ballot on Election Day.

---

IMPORTANT DEFINITIONS:

34-104. “Qualified elector” defined. “Qualified elector” means any person who is eighteen (18) years of age, is a United States citizen and who has resided in this state and in the county at least thirty (30) days preceding the election in which he/she desires to vote, and who is registered as required by law.

34-107. “Residence” defined. (1)”Residence”, for voting purposes, shall be the principal or primary home or place of abode of a person. Principal or primary home or place of abode is that home or place in which his habitation is fixed and to which a person, whenever he is absent, has the present intention of returning after a departure or absence therefrom, regardless of the duration of absence.

(2)In determining what is a principal place of abode of a person, the following circumstances relating to such person may be taken into account; business pursuits, employment, income sources, residence for income or other tax pursuits, residence of parents, spouse and children, if any, leaseholds, situs of personal and real property, situs of residence for which the exemption in Section 63-602G, Idaho Code, is filed and motor vehicle registration.

(3)A qualified elector who has left his home and gone into another state or territory or county of this state for a temporary purpose only shall not be considered to have lost his residence.

(4)A qualified elector shall not be considered to have gained a residence in any county or city of this state into which he come for temporary purposes only, without the intention of making it his home but with the intention of leaving it when he as accomplished the purpose that brought him there.

(5)If a qualified elector moves to another state or to any of the other territories, with the intention of making it his permanent home, he shall be considered to have lost his residency in this state.