Kootenai County Studies A Retrogressive Sell out to voters.

For the last several years, and timed with Dan English as County Clerk. the precincts have been much more convenient. In the case of Bayview, Idaho, we had to drive nine miles to vote. Our polling place was the Athol City Hall.

It is widely known that the further you have to go to vote, the less likely Joe and Jill Six-pack are likely to participate. In some cases the Commissioners do this deliberately, since many borderline voters stay home.

This plays into the hands of wacko fringe people. Those will go where ever it takes to get their vote counted. To retrogress back to the bad old days where it is made difficult to vote would be a moral crime. You commissioners are supposed to be working for us, not a few rabid right or left wingers.

I suggest you think about this real hard, because if you do this thing most voters will oust you at the first opportunity. For those of you that have long memories, Council president Rick Currie didn't lose to his opponent, he lost due to a split vote. It might also be of value to look up the tenure of past commissioners.Single terms is more the norm that long ones. Sure money is short and the county probably has to make difficult choices, the cheapest method for representative government is out voter convenience polling places.

**Update: Dan English tells me that the Bayview Polling place is not scheduled to be eliminated, however how about the folks in other areas?