Idaho voters decide Senate, governor and legislative races Tuesday

Nearly all counties expect to release early, absentee votes in first update

Idaho voters will choose federal, statewide and legislative leaders on Tuesday, when polls close at 8 p.m. local time — 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. Eastern time — according to the Associated Press. The AP Decision Team will monitor key data points and provide vote results and declare winners as ballots are tallied.

The AP will provide results and declare winners in races for U.S. Senate, governor, U.S. House, lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of state, statewide ballot measures, state Senate, state House, controller, state superintendent of public instruction and state treasurer, according to the wire service.

Nearly all of Idaho’s 44 counties are expected to release all or almost all of their early and absentee voting results in the first vote update of the night, according to the AP. About half of the counties are expected to release all of their in-person Election Day results in that first update. The latest advance vote totals for Idaho are available in the AP’s advance vote tracker.

Idaho’s counting pace in the last general election provides a benchmark for Tuesday. First results in the 2024 general election were reported starting at 11:13 p.m. ET on Nov. 5 — 13 minutes after the final polls closed — and the state reached 50% of votes reporting at 12:45 a.m. ET on Nov. 6, the AP said. Ninety percent of votes were reporting by 5:28 a.m. ET.

The most recent midterm offers a turnout comparison. About 591,000 votes were cast in Idaho’s 2022 race for the U.S. Senate, according to the AP. About 32% of all ballots cast in that race were cast early or by absentee ballot.

The AP said it does not make projections and will declare a winner only when it determines there is no scenario that would allow a trailing candidate to close the gap. If a race has not been called, the AP said it will continue to cover newsworthy developments, such as candidate concessions or declarations of victory, while making clear that it has not yet declared a winner and explaining why.

Recounts in Idaho are not automatic. A candidate may request and pay for a recount regardless of the vote margin, according to the AP. The state or county pays for the recount if the vote margin is 0.1% or less of the total votes cast for the office, or five votes, whichever is greater.

The AP may declare a winner in a race that is subject to a recount if it can determine the lead is too large for a recount or legal challenge to change the outcome, the news organization said.