Responsive Gov’s Grade TL;DR

Over the past year, the Idaho Legislature passed election-related legislation to expand the mail and online voter registration deadline and enacted new routine voter list maintenance procedures. Therefore, Idaho received a B+ on this year’s progress report.

Looking Back

Where Idaho Started at the Beginning of 2025

• Automatic Voter Registration: No
• Online Voter Registration: DMV ID
• Same-Day Registration: Yes
• Restoration of Rights: Parole and/or Probation Disenfranchisement
• Vote by Mail: Excuse-Only
• Electronic Registration Information Center Member: No
• Early Voting Opportunities: In-person Absentee
• ID Requirements: ID Requested, but Not Required

Relying on the Cost of Voting Index for Idaho as of 2024, we considered the state a middle tier state for pre-existing voting policy and compared its 2025 activity against other middle tier states.

How Our Tier Compares

• COVI (2024): 27th
• EPI Score (2022): 32nd

2025: This Past Year

Legislative Action

During the 2025 session, the Idaho Legislature extended the voter registration deadline for mail and online registration by two weeks. The Legislature also passed legislation to require counties to conduct routine reviews of existing voter registrations to identify “anomalies.”

• HB 278 extends the voter registration deadline to 11 days before the election from the current 24 day deadline for mail, online and other pre-election day registration. Additionally, voters may still continue to utilize same-day registration. The bill also adjusts the period for when early voting will start to “on or after the fourth Monday before the election” instead of the current requirement to start “on or before the third Monday,” to standardize the three week early voting period across jurisdictions.
• HB 339 requires the secretary of state and county clerks to conduct new routine list maintenance procedures. It requires the secretary to compare the voter rolls to data from the federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program at least 90 days before all statewide elections and flag any potential removals for county clerks. It also requires the secretary to periodically request data from various state and federal databases for list maintenance, and it allows the secretary to enter into agreements with other states and commercial data providers for list maintenance, among other things.
• HB 310 requires counties that use vote machines to adopt at least one “anti-fraud measure” for ballots from a list that includes watermarks, holograms, barcodes, and security paper, among other options. Counties that hand count ballots would be required to print “Official Election Ballot” and the election date on each ballot.