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Logan Finney: Lawmakers this session tightened up the rules for which documents Idahoans can use when they're registering to vote.

They eliminated an election date in March for school bonds and levies.

And it looks like they also got rid of Idaho's upcoming presidential primary.

I'm Logan Finney filling in for Melissa Davlin.

Idaho Reports starts now.

Hello and welcome to Idaho Reports.

This week, Melissa Davlin sits down with Bob Collier from the University of Idaho to discuss veterinarian shortages and what the state can do to address them.

Then Secretary of State Phil McGrane joins to talk about the election legislation that passed and failed in the 2023 session.

But first, let's get you caught up on the week.

Idaho Attorney General Raul Labrador is leading a lawsuit along with several other states to ban the distribution of mifepristone.

An FDA approved drug used to terminate early stage pregnancies.

That lawsuit comes as federal courts out of the states of Washington and Texas have issued conflicting rulings on the continued use of the drug.

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland weighed in on Wednesday, saying, quote, The Justice Department will continue to defend the FDA's approval of mifepristone, as well as the FDA's role as the expert body that Congress has designated to make decisions about the safety and efficacy of prescription medicines in this country.

End quote.

Over the last several years, Idaho lawmakers have discussed critical shortages among health care workers in our state, especially in rural areas.

But the medical industry isn't the only one that struggling to attract professionals.

In March, lead producer Melissa Davlin sat down with Bob Collier from the University of Idaho's Department of Animal, Veterinary and Food Sciences to discuss the state of veterinary medicine in Idaho, how our needs reflect the national trends and what can be done to address the issue.

Melissa Davlin: Thank you so much for joining us today.

What's the state of veterinary care in Idaho right now?

Bob Collier: Well, Melissa, there is a shortage of veterinarians variance in Idaho, in Idaho, and this is part of a national trend that is not unique to Idaho, that is not unique to Idaho, but is a little more severe.

When you look at the population of rural veterinarians in rural locations, and because there's a very large animal population animal population in Idaho, about 2.7 million cattle and sheep and probably about 170,000 horses and over a million dogs and cats.

So that means that there is really a need for not only veterinarians in rural locations, but large animal veterinarians.

but large animal veterinarians.

Melissa Davlin: This isn't specific to Idaho, but but what are the causes of these shortages that we're seeing?

Bob Collier: Okay.

So the So the first there are first there are more openings or opportunities right now than there are veterinarians to fill those.

I think I mentioned earlier that there are 18 open positions for every veterinarian looking for work.

The other causes are The other causes are the large animal veterinarians the large animal veterinarians have their actual incomes, about 30% less than a mixed animal or small animal veterinarians.

They leave They leave a graduate graduate with a very large debt load for veterinary school, about $270,000.

about $270,000.

And the starting salaries are in the 60 to $90000 range.

So it's difficult for them to keep up with their payments and maintain and maintain a rural veterinary practice.

So these are kinds of things we were looking at in our task force.

Melissa Davlin: You mentioned that the shortages are especially acute in rural areas.

When we're looking at Idaho, there's there's a lot of rural counties in Idaho.

Of course.

Are there any areas or any rural counties that are especially affected by these shortages?

Bob Collier: Well, we have Well, we have the the the greatest concentration of cattle and sheep is in the lower third of of Idaho.

So those counties tend to have more acute issues.

Melissa Davlin: Especially that Snake River plains.

Bob Collier: Right.

Correct.

Melissa Davlin: That's where we see the dairies, the Magic Valley.

Bob Collier: Correct.

Melissa Davlin: And Treasure Valley.

Bob Collier: Yeah.

Correct.

Treasure Valley.

Melissa Davlin: So, so you were the chair of the Idaho Veterinary Medicine Task Force.

What kind of policy proposals might help with these shortages?

Bob Collier: Well, we looked at several issues.

The first, we currently have 11 slots.

The University of Idaho has 11 slots Melissa Davlin: For for veterinary medicine?

Bob Collier: For veterinary medicine in what's called the WIMU program.

That's Washington, Idaho, Montana, Utah Consortium with the students from each state going to Washington State veterinary school.

We have 11 slots in that school system.

in that school system.

So we So we if you look at all if you look at all four years, then then we'd have 44 students we'd have 44 students that we support that we support through the state legislature.

through the state legislature, the out of state tuition costs.

So these are specifically 11 Melissa Davlin: So these are specifically 11 Idaho students per year who are able to go and get this education at Washington State University.

Bob Collier: Right, if they're selected.

It's a very competitive process.

We have about three applicants for every open slot.

So that makes it a very competitive process.

Also, you don't have to be a graduate of the University of Idaho.

You just need to be a resident of Idaho to apply.

So there are graduates of other schools who are Idaho residents who also apply.

So it is a very competitive process that we looked at that as as one piece.

What can we do to expand the number of students?

Right now, one of the problems inside the inside the waiver program WIMU program is that there's no requirement for them to stay in Idaho once they have finished.

Most states have programs states have programs where they want to locate students in the state.

They provide tuition support.

They provide tuition support.

In return, In return, they sign a contract to stay in the state after graduation.

One of our recommendations is to adopt a requirement that we ask that students are supported in this program, locate to a rural location, or stay within the state of Idaho after graduation.

Melissa Davlin: That's a requirement that's going to sound familiar to people who have been following the health care worker shortages Bob Collier: Right.

Melissa Davlin: In Idaho for a long time, because those are discussions that came up with the rural nurse tuition repayment program.

Bob Collier: Yep.

Melissa Davlin: The WWAMI program.

Bob Collier: Exactly.

Melissa Davlin: For medical students.

Bob Collier: In fact, this is modeled very closely to the WWAMI, what's called the trust program, the targeted, rural, underserved track of physicians.

So what we're saying is what we're saying is we'd like to expand our our group of students from 11 to 20 and also develop a what's called a one what's called a one plus three program where the first year they're in Idaho.

And in that first year, ten of the 20 are selected for a rural track, and those ten would receive tuition support throughout their entire program, which which if they look if they locate to a rural location, they don't have to pay back.

If they don't locate in Idaho at a rural location, they would have to reimburse the state for that.

for that.

And the other ten students who are in the WIMU program but are not large animal or rural veterinary track, they would just be required to stay in the state of Idaho, not to do any specific not to do any specific location.

Melissa Davlin: So they could be small animal veterinarians in the Coeur d’Alene or Idaho Falls.

Bob Collier: Correct.

Melissa Davlin: Got it.

You presented these policy proposals to the legislature earlier this year.

How did lawmakers receive those proposals?

Bob Collier: They were well received in both the Senate and the House, in the House, In the House.

Representative Lori McCann has volunteered to draft a bill and, and, of course, had of course, at and, of course, had our part in the process is over now that we've finished our report.

But we did offer our support in providing any information they need they need to write this legislation.

It won't be considered very likely this year.

Because it's too late in the session, you know, So we'll we we're hopeful that next year there will be a proposal ready to be evaluated by the legislature.

Logan Finney: Election security and voter integrity have been at the top of lawmakers minds for several years now.

And this legislative session was no different.

Secretary of State Phil McGrane joined me on Friday morning to run through which changes passed, which failed and what voters need to know the next time they head to the polls.

Joining me to discuss what happened with elections and voting this session is Secretary of State Phil McGrane.

Thanks for joining us.

Phil McGrane: It's great to be with you Logan.

It's great to be with you.

So, Secretary of State McGrane, Logan Finney: So, Secretary of State McGrane, tell me a bit about how this session went for the secretary of state's office.

What came out of this year?

Phil McGrane: Yeah, You know, I think one of the big things for me is this is a start of a new role and a new job.

So it's been an absolute privilege stepping into this role.

And I just never imagined how consuming it would be to be involved with the legislature, especially just being there in the Capitol, in and among legislators.

I think one of our big successes this session was I reached out to all of the legislators at the beginning, and even if there were policy issues that we may not agree upon, I was really fortunate to have a good working relationship with legislators coming by chatting with us.

chatting with us this year, This year, just like in previous the past two years, House Bill 1 was an elections bill, which meant, I mean, we hit the ground running in terms of election policy discussions.

But this year, I think overall was it ended up in a really successful point in terms of voters.

We made some improvements.

We also ensured some things didn't come to fruition that were being discussed.

And overall, I you know, I feel good coming out of the legislature.

Logan Finney: All right.

Well, let's dive into a few of those policy proposals.

When we had you on the show early on in the year.

One of the big topics you talked about was putting together or possibly expanding Idaho's voter guide.

Tell me what the voter guide currently has in it, what you wanted to add and why that didn't go anywhere.

Phil McGrane: Yeah, you know, unfortunately, it didn't get to where we wanted it to.

As you well know, one of the big things, the most common requests we get from voters is they want to know what they're going to be voting on.

You know, everyone, when they head to the polls, they know who they're going to vote for president, but they often don't know who their legislators are or who their county officials are or any of the other things that are going to be on the ballot.

And so we want to get that information.

Right now, the state provides a voter pamphlet that includes any initiatives, referendums, constitutional amendments, but doesn't provide candidate information.

And so that was one of my priorities going into the session, was to talk about that.

We did get the bill through the Senate.

JFAC also at least tentatively seemed interested in funding it.

But when it got to the House, we didn't get all the way through the process.

In terms of legislature.

It's not an issue I'm done with because it is a really popular topic we're looking at What can we do with the vote The VoteIdaho.gov website.

Idaho dot gov website.

That's the main resource That's the main resource for people to register to vote request absentees.

There may be opportunities we can do more there, but I do think voter information and education is just as crucial as making sure we have access to the ballot.

Logan Finney: And so if voters come to you and say they'd like these resources, we want more information.

Why do you think lawmakers weren't so enthusiastic about creating this new guide?

Phil McGrane: You know, I would say probably one of the first things was just the expense uh along with that was a $750,000 request to fund that.

to fund that.

That sounds like a ton of money.

But when you're talking over a million registered voters that we need to produce it for.

It actually just covers what we need.

I think that was one I think that was one of the big things.

I also think, you know, there's a question about what the role of the state is.

For me, I think it's important that we're providing information to voters.

There are some lawmakers who feel like, no, there's plenty of private resources out there available for voters to access.

And so I think that's one of the questions.

And I think we'll continue to discuss, you know, how can we do that, right balancing act.

But when I talk to voters, people want to make informed decisions.

And so as a secretary, we're going to continue to work towards that.

Logan Finney: And so with that policy bill not being implemented, JFAC didn't give you the money to actually put this guide together.

What else in your budget this year coming out of session are you excited about to put in to use?

Phil McGrane: You know, I think one of the greatest things and I really have to express a lot of appreciation to the legislature is the investment that we're making in elections.

You know, one of the bills we had House Bill 11 this year was to say no private money should be funding our elections.

That was a hot topic over the campaign cycle.

Logan Finney: During the campaign we heard a lot Phil McGrane: Yeah, Yet we heard a lot we heard a lot about Zuckerbucks and everything else.

And so we said as a state, no, we do not want private money coming in to fund our elections.

But just as important with that is making sure that the state does invest in our elections.

And that's what the legislature did.

I had asked for $10 million to invest in our crucial election systems.

So this is the voter registration system, the election management system used by all the county clerks throughout the state, lobbyist and campaign finance reporting systems.

And I'm happy to say the legislature saw the importance of that.

You know, if we want integrity in our elections, that means we have to fund the tools, making sure that everything runs smoothly in terms of our elections, but also that we're keeping information secure, voter's personal information secure, but also protecting the actual votes.

And so that's where our office, now that we're done with the legislative session, will be using the new positions that they gave us, as well as well as that $10 million to go out and make the crucial upgrades to our election systems.

Logan Finney: And in addition to upgrading the physical and digital and equipment side of the election system, there's also maintaining the data and the information, the list of people who are registered to vote.

Your office just finished cleaning up those voter rolls, is that right?

Phil McGrane: Yeah.

So a year ago it was interesting.

The legislature passed a bill saying that I needed to update them annually on what we do to maintain our voter rolls.

Important for an election is maintaining a clean list of who's registered to vote.

That includes capturing any time someone passes away, someone moves out of state, they're convicted of a felony, anything like that.

And so routinely our office in combination with the county clerks are going through and cleaning up those rolls.

We do that process after every general election as well as on an ongoing basis for some of those like vital statistics information.

And so over the last year, we actually removed about 75,000 voters from the rolls.

That covers all sorts of different reasons.

But we provided an update to the legislature to let them know, hey, we're monitoring this.

We're working with our partners at ITD, Vital Statistics and others to make sure we keep the list clean.

It's a hot topic It's a hot topic nationally right now, and so I'm just proud to report that Idaho is doing its part to make sure we keep our rolls as accurate as possible.

And we're very fortunate in Idaho to have same day registration.

So that it's just as easy on the other side to register to vote for anybody who's moving into our state.

Logan Finney: That brings us right to where I wanted to go next was actually registering to vote.

So there were some pieces of legislation and some policy bills floating around to change the ways that you can register, what sort of identification you can use.

Can you tell me about those bills and what passed, what people need to know when they go to sign up to vote?

Phil McGrane: Yeah, that was one of the big priorities for me was just to clarify and clean up.

There was a lot of information out there and we would often hear stories of someone using their Costco card or as Representative Mitchell, who worked really closely with me on this bill, he would say he could use his scuba diving card to register to vote or an Amazon box.

And that breeds distrust in the elections when people aren't certain.

And we had two different standards of identification.

So we have a really specific standard of ID to vote that's there that's there when you show your driver's license, when you go vote.

Logan Finney: When you walk up to a Poll worker.

Phil McGrane: When you walk up to a poll worker.

But when you were registering to vote, it was really vague and really broad.

So actually, the way people were administering it was correct under the law.

But we wanted to better align our ID requirements for voting with our registration requirements.

And that's one of the key things that we did.

Representative Mitchell and I worked really closely together to identify what are the types of ID to prove you are who you say you are.

Overwhelmingly, voters use their driver's license.

That shouldn't surprise anybody.

But also, what types of documentation can you use to prove your residence and it's a pretty comprehensive list.

I mean, we were able to cover everything from really simple things like a deed of trust or, you know, a utility bill, but even help address issues like homelessness.

And how does someone who's homeless register to vote and we make sure that we have them captured properly.

So I feel really proud about House Bill 340 and what we were able to do.

I mean, the simple thing for voters, to your ultimate question, you know, what do you need is bring your ID, whether it's your driver's license, passport, military ID, any of those show up and you have that identification and then a proof of residence.

And honestly, the thing that we often see most is like if people look in their glove box, their insurance card will be up to date with their address, and that's sufficient to be able to register.

But there's numerous other pieces of documentation that can be now used, and it makes it simpler for poll workers or groups that are out registering people as well, because it says here are the exact types.

It's no longer open for interpretation.

Now it's standard to standardize it across the state to make sure that we can all have confidence that when people register, they are who they say they are, but also that we can make it simple to administer and easy for voters to be able to have that documentation when they head to the polls.

Logan Finney: They are who they say they are, and they live where they say.

Phil McGrane: And they live where they say yes, just as important that they are a resident of the state of Idaho when they're registering to vote.

And a form of ID Logan Finney: And a form of identification which is not able to be used anymore in Idaho is student IDs, Correct?

That got a lot of attention.

Phil McGrane: Yeah, the student IDs were specifically so that ID form that you could use to vote.

Student IDs were removed from that list.

You know, the concerns, the conversations that we had was just about the security concerns in terms of the standards used to produce student IDs.

They're generally just made on, you know, desktop printers for identification cards.

That's different than like a state issued ID or some of the other forms of passport or whatnot.

I'm happy to report like, yes, that got a lot of attention on the student ID piece, but one, it was extremely rarely used.

It was about 2/10 It was about 2/10 of a percent of our voters were the ones actually using student IDs.

But it's important to me to make sure we didn't deter access.

You know, a theme that was often said by me on numerous bills throughout the legislative session is that we can have secure elections and maintain access.

We don't have to restrict access and and in order to have security.

And so House Bill 340 And so House Bill 340 also included a free ID card to anybody who needed it, whether that's a student who needs a free ID card or it's a senior or anybody else, you know, just someone who's not able to drive, they can now get a free ID card for voting purposes.

And I think that's a really important upgrade to make sure we increase the security, but we also maintain access.

Logan Finney: That is important for people to know.

It's not just getting rid of an option but replacing the IDs with some.

Phil McGrane: I think there were numerous legislators who probably would not have voted for the student ID anything if they didn't know there was going to be this other alternative to provide those free ID cards.

Because I know there's numerous legislators who want to make sure that their constituents have access.

And in Idaho, compared to many other states, we're very fortunate that we have it's easier to register whether that's online at the polls than many other states across the country.

Logan Finney: And when it comes to actually doing the process of voting, some lawmakers also took a run at changing absentee ballot access, as well as identification affidavits.

If people are familiar with those processes, is there anything that change that they need to know about?

Phil McGrane: You know, on both of those fronts, nothing actually changed.

I think one of the big things and we've gotten lots of questions in the office is about absentee voting.

There was a lot of talk about limiting who could request an absentee ballot or what circumstances someone could request an absentee ballot, but nothing actually changed.

The process is still the same.

People can go to the VoteIdaho.gov website and request an absentee ballot, or they can go visit their local county clerk's office and fill out a request form that that process remains the same.

And Idaho voters still have access.

I think it's just important to note too for your viewers, is in Idaho, you can vote on Election Day.

We have polling places throughout the state.

You can vote early for the weeks leading up in person at your local elections office or any Idahoan can request an absentee ballot, whether they're voting here in the state or they're going to be traveling, they can make that request and vote in any upcoming election.

Logan Finney: Okay.

in any upcoming election.

Okay.

One of the other areas One of the other areas I wanted to talk to you about is the March election, the big property tax bill, school funding bill that passed, got rid of schools, ability to run bonds and levies on the previous March election date.

You're not a schools guy, You're not a schools guy, but you're an election guy.

So I want to ask you, when it comes to the county clerks across the state, getting rid of that date, how much of a change is that for them when it comes to workload and scheduling elections?

Phil McGrane: You know, I would say I'm not a schools guy, but I've certainly got kids in public education here in the state.

And so I appreciate all that our schools do.

I thought it was one of the interesting things that you asked me going into the legislative session.

Would anything change regarding the March election date?

I would have said there's no way.

But yet here we are.

There is no longer a March election for anything.

a march election for anything.

Certainly county clerks were supportive because running an election so close to another election, which is the March and the May dates are so close to one another, it's a tough turnaround time.

So this really provides some breathing room for the county clerks, especially as we lead into.

So if we look at next year and the 2024 election, the primary elections, both at the national level as well as the state level will be very busy.

This gives a lot more lead time for the clerks to get the materials prepared, to get ballots issued to voters and everything to run smoothly.

I do think over the interim, we're going to see more conversations about election consolidation and dates for voters.

They just want to know when to show up to vote.

And it can be hard knowing there's all these different options.

There was other legislation There was other legislation looking at city elections and some of the others that was taken up, but it didn't pass.

And I think this is going to trigger a further conversation to say how do we increase information to voters, just like we talked about with the voter guide, but also how do we balance when we hold these when we hold these various elections?

Have you talked to any of the school districts?

That's an important balance for them, is making sure they have the tools to be able to run the bonds and levies they depend on.

And so I hope to be involved in those conversations and they're interim looking at what we do in the future.

Logan Finney: Lawmakers did not only eliminate that schools election in March, they also passed a bill to combine Idaho's presidential primary with the regular primary held in May.

That move saw some opposition from Republican officials who say their party membership didn't get the chance to weigh in on it.

Dorothy Moon: Most of you are new.

Some of you new folks.

You weren't here when we went from a caucus to the closed primary and it was quite a bit of work.

And there was a lot of agreement between the legislature and the Idaho Republican Party.

But the fact that the two folks that are sponsoring the bill on the House and the Senate side never reached out, at least to the chairwoman, to discuss this.

The fact that I only spoke to the secretary of state one occasion in regard to this bill, and I still would like to see us move the primary up even further.

This is going to be the most exciting presidential primary in my lifetime.

Rod Beck: I don't know what that what the Democrat Party will do.

I know what I would recommend the Republican Party do.

Let's have a say in this.

Let's let's get let's get candidates in Idaho so that Idaho issues and Western issues are actually considered.

Logan Finney: Lawmakers ultimately passed the bill to move the presidential primary, but declined a bill that would have reincorporated certain steps of the process back into law.

And without those procedures, there is no legal mechanism to hold a presidential primary in Idaho for 2024.

On Friday, I asked Secretary McGrane for his thoughts.

What are your reactions to the party's concerns?

Phil McGrane: You know, I think it was an interesting conversation.

The discussion regarding the presidential preference primary really came out initially just my budget.

So Secretary Denny leading up when he had submitted the initial budget, had $2.5 million to pay for the presidential election.

And JFAC members and others started asking about the investment in that.

And so it spurred a conversation about should we still be holding the March primary.

We had moved it up a few years ago both to get more national attention and other things.

And, you know, there's debate in terms of how much participation we've seen from candidates.

Donald Trump won both of the primaries that we've had here for the state in the Republican primary.

But yet, still hasn't been to the state of Idaho.

I talked to Chairwoman Moon, as well as Chairwoman Necochea early on in the process just to talk about what we were doing.

I think for many people and I heard this from Chairwoman Moon, is a desire to actually move Idaho's primary up even further.

Like if it could be in February.

The legislature wasn't really keen on that idea.

One of the other topics that came up was participation having two different primaries.

One of the things we've seen is some drop off in the May state primary because voters are showing up to vote in March for president and they think they've already voted.

And so when it comes to the May election, they get confused like I already had a primary.

Why are we doing this now?

And so House Bill 138 was to, as you said, to move the March presidential primary and re-merge it back with the state primary in May.

Unfortunately, in the process, as Commissioner Beck pointed out, there were some mechanical issues with the bill.

And so we had a trailer bill to try and sync that up, but the trailer bill didn't go through.

So what ended up happening ultimately is we did remove the March presidential primary, but unfortunately it didn't actually get moved on to the May date.

If we're going to do that, we're going to have to do something at the beginning of next session.

Right now, actually, where it puts the situation is with the parties of both the Republican Party as well as the Democratic Party, are going to have to work with their national committees in terms of, you know, do we hold a caucus?

Do we hold a party run primary or something else?

A lot of this was related to participation as well as funding.

And so I think there's going to be more conversations.

I had anticipated that trailer bill going through and us all voting in May.

I think that's what most legislators thought that they were voting on at that point in time.

So I know we'll have more conversations during this year, but we do have a presidential election coming up.

Certainly in our office.

2024 is very square in our vision in terms of getting ready.

I know for the parties there's more and more conversations as candidates are starting to get more engaged in that political process process.

And so we'll be having more conversations about that leading up through the summer.

Logan Finney: All right.

And us at Idaho Reports will keep an eye on that as well.

As things start to heat up over the summer.

Secretary of State Phil McGrane, thank you so much for joining us today.

Phil McGrane: Yeah, it was great to be with you Logan.

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