We are just 71 days from election day, and in 25 days, absentee ballots will begin arriving on doorsteps. With so little time left, we are doing our best to make the most of each day.
This past week, we officially kicked off our weekly volunteering shifts. Volunteers will be able to sign up to join us (in-person or virtually) any Wednesday, Friday, or Saturday now through election day. We are hoping supporters will become regular volunteers, but whether you can participate two days a week, once a week, once every other week or once a month, we really appreciate your time and efforts to get good people elected to public office.
At the link below, choose any dates that work for you! If you can’t make any of these times work but would like to get involved, let us know, and we will find a better time for you!
As many of you know, Governor Little has called for a Special Session of the Idaho Legislature so it can consider legislation related to legal liability immunity and election issues. The Special Session will take place on Monday, August 24th.
The election legislation is designed to ensure election offices around the State of Idaho have the resources they need to do their jobs under these unprecedented circumstances. Election offices rely heavily on volunteers to conduct elections, many of whom are retirees who want to serve their communities by helping to ensure elections are conducted fairly and efficiently.
Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, election officials worry volunteers will be hard to come by. This could lead to issues getting ballots tallied efficiently since early voting is expected to be a significantly larger portion of the vote total than in years past. I have seen some of the proposed legislation and feel the Legislature is on the right track to curb this potential challenge.
As to the liability immunity legislation, I have serious concerns about the protections being proposed for corporations, governmental entities and other businesses. The initial drafts of the legislation were pretty alarming, but thankfully each new draft has reigned in the excesses. Much of the credit for that goes to the chairs of the relevant committees who are trying to strike the right balance. I want to see how the process plays out before making a final judgment.
To be clear, I don’t believe legislation is necessary in this area, but since some form of legislation will apparently be passed, I am eager to see that it is as harmless as possible. I plan on speaking about this more throughout my campaign, and I am happy to discuss it with you in more detail if you are interested.
If these sound like the kinds of decisions you’d like to see made in the legislature, I hope you will consider supporting my campaign with a donation. Today, your contribution would allow my campaign to maintain the staff we need to make a real, long term impact in Pocatello, and throughout the State.
Let’s better our community, together.
Sincerely,
J.R.
James Ruchti