34-404. REGISTRATION OF ELECTORS. (1) All electors must register before being able to vote at any primary, general, special, school or any other election governed by the provisions of title 34, Idaho Code. Registration of a qualified person occurs when a legible, accurate and complete registration application is received in the office of the county clerk or is received at the polls pursuant to section 34-408A, Idaho Code.

(2) Each elector may select on the registration application an affiliation with a political party qualified to participate in elections pursuant to section 34-501, Idaho Code, or may select to be designated as "unaffiliated." The county clerk shall record the party affiliation or "unaffiliated" designation so selected as part of the elector’s registration record. If an elector shall fail or refuse to make such a selection, the county clerk shall enter on the registration records that such elector is "unaffiliated."

(3) In order to provide an elector with the appropriate primary election ballot, pursuant to section 34-904A, Idaho Code, the poll book for primary elections shall include the party affiliation or designation as "unaffiliated" for each elector so registered. An "unaffiliated" elector shall declare to the poll worker which primary election ballot the elector chooses to vote in, pursuant to section 34-904A, Idaho Code, and the poll worker or other authorized election personnel shall record such declaration in the poll book. The poll book shall contain checkoff boxes to allow the poll worker or other authorized election personnel to record such "unaffiliated" elector’s selection.

(4) In order to provide electors who are already registered to vote, and who remain registered electors, with an opportunity to select a party affiliation or to select their status as "unaffiliated," the poll book for the 2012 primary election shall include checkoff boxes by which the poll worker or other appropriate election personnel shall record such elector’s choice of party affiliation or choice to be designated as "unaffiliated." After the 2012 primary election, the county clerk shall record the party affiliation or "unaffiliated" designation so selected in the poll book as part of such an elector’s record within the voter registration system as provided for in section 34-437A, Idaho Code.

(5) After the 2012 primary election, electors who remain registered voters and who did not vote in the 2012 primary election or who have not selected party affiliation or who have not selected to be designated as "unaffiliated," shall be designated as "unaffiliated" and the county clerk shall record that designation for each such elector within the voter registration system as provided for in section 34-437A, Idaho Code.

History:

[34-404, added 1970, ch. 140, sec. 39, p. 351; am. 1971, ch. 192, sec. 2, p. 874; am. 1972, ch. 197, sec. 1, p. 498; am. 1987, ch. 256, sec. 2, p. 520; am. 1997, ch. 356, sec. 1, p. 1051; am. 2011, ch. 319, sec. 3, p. 931; am. 2016, ch. 359, sec. 3, p. 1054.]