Partisan and Nonpartisan Races

Two people can run for local office in the same county in the same decade and face completely different contests. One runs for county commissioner: files with a party, needs that party's voters in a May primary, then faces the other party in November. The other runs for city council: no label, no primary, one November ballot, and a neighbor of any party might vote for them. This lesson explains which system each seat uses, how each one works, and where parties fit into races that are officially nonpartisan. It describes the rules. It does not favor any party.

Which races carry a label

Race	Label on ballot?	Primary?	How the winner is decided	Key statutes
County commissioner, sheriff, clerk, treasurer, assessor, coroner, prosecutor	Yes	Party primary in May of even years	Most votes in the primary, then most votes in November	34-704, 34-904A, 34-1210
Precinct committeeman (party office)	Yes, on that party's primary ballot	Elected at the primary itself	Most votes	34-624
Ada County Highway District (single countywide district)	Nonpartisan now; partisan with primaries beginning with the 2028 elections	From 2028	Most votes, countywide for each seat	40-1404A, 34-905A
Mayor and city council	No	No	Most votes, or a top-two runoff if the city requires a majority by ordinance	50-406, 50-612, 50-707B, 50-413
School trustee	No	No	Most votes in the zone; coin toss if tied	33-503
Highway district (ordinary)	No	No	Most votes	34-905A
Fire, library, cemetery, recreation, hospital, water and sewer, soil and water, irrigation	No	No	Most votes (each statute)	Each district's chapter
Judges (for comparison)	No	Nonpartisan, decided in May	Majority, or top two in November	34-905, 34-716

The split follows the law. The county offices are constitutional offices that the legislature puts through the party nomination chapter, Title 34 chapter 7. Idaho Code 34-704(3) refers to each "political party candidate for county office." Cities are explicitly nonpartisan: 50-406 says the declaration makes "no mention relating to party." School and district boards are elected under the uniform district election law, which has no party nomination step at all, and 34-905A requires a single nonpartisan ballot for highway commissioners. A Boise State University public policy professor, asked about a party endorsing in a community college board race, put the purpose this way: "That was the intent in separating those local offices from the partisan electoral process."

How a partisan county race works

Filing with a party

A party candidate files a declaration of candidacy with the county clerk during the window and must already be affiliated with that party. Under 34-704(1), the candidate is treated as affiliated by submitting a party affiliation form along with the declaration, and the clerk must reject a partisan primary declaration from anyone who is not affiliated. Independents file in the same window but skip the primary: under 34-708, they declare no party affiliation, file a petition with five signatures of qualified electors for a county office, and appear only on the November ballot.

Choose carefully. 34-704(4) says a candidate who files under a party name and loses the primary may not appear on the general ballot under any other party name or as an independent. There is no second route to November once you lose a primary.

Who votes in the primary

Idaho's party primaries have been closed by default since the 2011 law that created the current system. Idaho Code 34-904A says a voter registered with a party may vote only in that party's primary. Each qualified party may, by written notice to the Secretary of State no later than the last Tuesday in November before the primary, open its primary to unaffiliated voters, to voters registered with other parties, or to both. Unaffiliated voters who choose a party ballot declare it to the poll worker. If no party ballot is chosen, the voter gets the nonpartisan ballot, which in May carries judges and any nonpartisan local measures or seats.

In practice the rule produces different primaries for different parties. For the May 19, 2026 primary, East Idaho News reported that the Republican primary was closed to all but registered Republicans, with unaffiliated voters able to take part only by registering as Republicans, while the Democratic primary was open to any voter. Other recognized parties set their own rules. For a county candidate, this decides the universe of voters you must reach in May.

The affiliation deadline

Voters who want to switch from one party to another, or drop their party, face an early cutoff. Under 34-411A, a voter may change party or become unaffiliated only by filing a signed form with the county clerk no later than the last day a candidate may file for partisan office before the primary. The 2026 calendar set that at March 13, 2026, more than two months before the May 19 primary. An unaffiliated voter, by contrast, may affiliate with a party up to and including election day. Candidates recruiting supporters to vote in their party's primary need to know both rules.

Write-ins in a partisan primary

A write-in can become a party's nominee for a county office by filing a declaration of intent by the ninth Friday before the primary and receiving at least five write-in votes (34-702 and 34-702A). In a county where one party often fields no candidate for an office, this is a real path to the November ballot.

Precinct committeemen and central committees

The smallest elected office in Idaho may matter most to anyone running for a partisan county seat. Under 34-624, each party elects a precinct committeeman for each voting precinct at the primary, for a term running from the eighth day after one primary to the eighth day after the next. A candidate must be 18, a citizen, and registered in the precinct for six months. There is no filing fee.

Under 34-502, a party's precinct committeemen in a county are its county central committee. They meet within ten days after the primary to elect a county chair and other officers, and the committee fills vacancies in precinct seats. That committee has several powers that reach directly into county government.

• Slate vacancies before the primary. If a party's only declared candidate for a county office dies, is disqualified or withdraws before the primary, the county central committee may fill the slot within 15 days, as long as it does so by the eighth Friday before the primary (34-714).
• Slate vacancies after the primary. If the party's nominee dies or is disqualified before the eighth Friday before the general election, the county central committee names a replacement within 15 days (34-715). After that date the name stays on the ballot, and if that candidate wins, the office is filled as a vacancy.
• Vacancies in office. When an elected county officer other than a commissioner leaves office, the county central committee of that officer's party submits three names to the county commissioners within 15 days. The commissioners appoint one from the list within 15 days; if they do not, the committee picks one of its three; if the committee fails to act, the commissioners appoint any qualified person within five days. If the former officer had no party, the commissioners simply appoint. The appointee serves until the next general election (59-906). Commission vacancies themselves are filled by the governor under the same section.

Because appointees often run as incumbents at the next election, the central committee's list of three can shape who holds a county office for years. People who plan to run for a county office often serve as precinct committeemen first, or at least know theirs.

An officeholder who wants to change parties mid-term must file a declaration of intent with the election official where they filed, may do it only once per term, and may not do it between filing for the primary and three months after the general election in which the office was on the ballot (34-627). The fee is $25.

Nonpartisan races in practice

On a nonpartisan ballot, voters see names and nothing else. What that changes for a candidate:

• One election. There is no primary to survive. The November (or May) ballot decides it, and in a multi-seat at-large council race, the top finishers take the open seats.
• A broader pool. Every registered voter in the jurisdiction may vote, regardless of party registration.
• Labels arrive anyway. Endorsements, mailers from party committees or PACs, and questionnaire answers tell voters what a label would have. A candidate who welcomes a party's support should say so plainly. A candidate who wants to run without it should also say so, and answer questions about it the same way every time.
• Disclaimers still apply. Any literature, sign or ad must carry the attribution Idaho law requires, whoever pays for it. See Literature, Signs and Ads.

Campaign rules for nonpartisan candidates are otherwise the same as for partisan ones: the same $1,000 per-election contribution limit for local office, the same Sunshine reporting once a campaign raises or spends $500, and the same ethics rules after election. Lesson 5 covers the money.

Counting votes: plurality, runoffs and ties

Plurality is the default. Most local statutes say the candidate with the most votes wins, even with less than half. School trustees: "the person receiving the greatest number of votes cast within his zone" (33-503). Highway commissioners: "The candidate with the most votes shall be declared the successful candidate" (34-905A). Hospital trustees: those "receiving the most votes" (39-1330).

City runoffs are optional. A city may, by ordinance, require a majority for mayor (50-612) or for a numbered or district council seat (50-707B). If no one gets a majority, the top two face a runoff, run by the county clerk, within 30 days of the general election, outside the usual two-elections-a-year limit, at the city's expense. The 2027 calendar sets December 2, 2027 as the last day for a city runoff after the November 2 election. If your city has such an ordinance, plan your budget for a second race in December.

Ties are decided by chance.

• County races: the tied candidates appear before the county clerk within two days after the canvass, and a coin toss decides (34-1210).
• City races: the city clerk calls the tied candidates before the council at a meeting within six days and tosses a coin (50-413).
• School trustees: the board tosses a coin (33-503(2)). Library trustees: the board tosses a coin (33-2716).

A losing candidate in a close race may still ask for a recount within the deadline on the election calendar.

Ranked-choice voting is banned. Idaho Code 34-903B, added by House Bill 179 in 2023 (Session Law Chapter 135, effective July 1, 2023), says no county elections office shall use ranked-choice or instant runoff voting for any local government, statewide or federal office, defines local government to include cities, counties, school districts and special taxing districts, and voids any conflicting local ordinance. In November 2024, voters considered Proposition 1, an initiative that would have replaced closed party primaries with a single top-four primary open to all voters and used ranked-choice voting in the general election. It failed, with about 70 percent voting no in the returns the Idaho Capital Sun reported the next day. The current system of party primaries and plurality wins stays in place. The money behind both sides of Prop 1 is a case study in course 46 lesson 7.