Originally posted on IdahoEdNews.org on May 23, 2025

BOISE, ID – On Thursday, Idaho Republican Party Chairwoman Dorothy Moon decried low voter turnout in this week’s nonpartisan elections — which included more than two dozen school bond and levy proposals.

And Moon floated one approach to boost turnout: further consolidating elections.

“How do we get more people involved?” Moon wrote in her weekly op-ed. “One idea is to move all elections to even-numbered years. It would save money and reduce the burden on everyday citizens trying to keep up with constant voting cycles.”

Election consolidation is not a new idea, and the Republican-dominated Legislature has already scaled back school elections.

In 2023, lawmakers eliminated the March school election date as part of a far-reaching property tax relief law. The August election date was the next to go, nixed as part of an omnibus 2024 school facilities law.

The pretext behind these moves was to eliminate standalone school election dates — and shift bond and levy requests to high-turnout May and November elections. But as it is, some school administrators say the current, reduced election calendar already puts them in a time crunch, as they try to post budgets after the May election in order to meet the state’s June budget deadline.

Moon cited two turnout statistics from Tuesday: Ada County’s 8% rate and Kootenai County’s 30% rate. In Kootenai County in particular, she said, elections can have consequences.

“In Kootenai County, voters approved school levies and city bonds totaling tens of millions of dollars. That’s how our system works: voters decide, and we all live with the results,” she wrote. “So when people complain next year about rising property taxes during campaigns for Legislature or governor, remind them that this local election helped set those rates.”