BOISE, Idaho — Absentee ballots have already started to appear in mailboxes across the Gem State (that is if you requested one).
On Thursday, a viewer reached out to The 208 after receiving her absentee ballot in the mail. Terry Lee Lloyd said her ballot lists presidential candidates in a randomized order, which differs from that of the sample ballot listed on the Boise County Elections website, where candidates are listed in alphabetical order.
Lloyd asked The 208, "Shouldn't there be a standard rule for the candidate order, and not be partisan, which this obviously is. Would expect the two main candidates to be at the top of the ballot."
However, according to Idaho code and the Secretary of State's office, there is a specific process in which clerks offices must follow when listing candidates on the ballot:
Chapter 9, section 34-903: SECRETARY OF STATE TO PRESCRIBE FORM AND CONTENTS OF ALL BALLOTS AND RELATED DOCUMENTS. (1) The secretary of state shall, in a manner consistent with the election laws of this state, prescribe the form for all ballots, absentee ballots, diagrams, sample ballots, ballot labels, voting machine labels or booklets, certificates, notices, declarations of candidacy, affidavits of all types, lists, applications, poll books, tally sheets, registers, rosters, statements and abstracts if required by the election laws of this state.
(4) The names of candidates which appear on election ballots for federal, state, county and city offices shall be rotated in the manner determined by the secretary of state. The order of candidates for office in other elections shall be determined by applying the first letter of each candidate’s last name to a random alphabet selected prior to each election by the secretary of state.
Essentially, candidate order is rotated on ballots so that each candidate will appear at the top an equal number of times.
In Ada County, the order in which presidential candidates appear is randomized by precinct.
"The order of the candidates’ names is rotated on the ballot to make the process more fair, and to avoid favoring candidates by alphabetization or party, or some other designation," Chelsea Carattini with the Ada County Clerk's office explained why the county randomizes it.
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