Voting in rural Idaho has social aspects that sweeten the overall experience

It has been such a rough and tumble election season I had to do something to refresh my faith in all that is good in America.

So, I retreated to a memory of a story I did years ago about how people voted in Cherry County, Neb., a huge swath of parched sandhills in the northern part of the state kept alive by a few miraculous rivers. Ranchers manage to scratch out a living in the county, which is so big that parts of it are in both the Central and Mountain time zones.

During my visit I was surprised and delighted to learn that — because of the county’s remoteness and dearth of public meeting places — many folks gathered at private homes, ranches and garages to vote. They saw each other so infrequently because of the distance, climate and hardships that they reveled in election days. Pausing to cast ballots was a mixed celebration of pride, patriotism and potluck dishes meant to sweeten the ritual with social and culinary benefits.

In order to focus on something more than this sorry presidential race, I went searching for something like that in Idaho. If folks are still voting in Idaho ranches and homes, I couldn’t find them after picking the brains of clerks in places like Bear Lake, Butte, Cassia, Elmore, Fremont, Lewis, Owyhee and other counties. I learned federal rules don’t allow some of the private precinct locations anymore — and rightfully so, if not everybody can gain access. Plus, many areas are turning to vote-by-mail. In Idaho, precincts of 125 people or less have a choice: mail or continue to show up at designated locations that meet guidelines.

Read more here: http://www.idahostatesman.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/robert-ehlert/article112889578.html