About two dozen election bills have been introduced in Idaho this legislative session, a total that signals fewer questions around voting across the state compared to past years.

Since the 2020 election, far more election bills have typically been introduced, according to Idaho Secretary of State Phil McGrane and legislative archives. Right out of the gate in 2023, House Bill 1 revised laws around auditing elections. Now, some of the desire for election integrity has fallen off because of outreach and because President Donald Trump won, McGrane, a Republican, told the Idaho Statesman.

“The November election, a combination of the results but also how we ran it, answered a lot of people’s questions,” he said by phone. “For a healthy number of Idahoans, they seem to have moved on … elections just isn’t at the top.”

Idaho’s elections are safe, McGrane said.

This session’s election-related bills range from giving the attorney general the ability to investigate and prosecute election crimes to requiring a unique identifier on each ballot. Another would require anti-fraud measures like a hologram design on ballots. Other bills focus on checking voter rolls or underscoring that only citizens can vote (which already is the law).

So far, House Bill 310, which also requires certain anti-fraud measures, is one of the closest to becoming law. The bill passed the House, advanced out of the Senate State Affairs Committee and awaits a full vote on the Senate floor.

Rep. Joe Alfieri, R-Coeur d’Alene, sponsored at least three of the election security bills, including the proposed law to grant the attorney general power to investigate election crimes. The Attorney General’s Office declined to comment, citing pending legislation.

Alfieri still had some questions, but said he’s “confident in what we’re doing” and he doesn’t see cause for concern in Idaho elections

“When you move into a neighborhood, if it’s a low-crime neighborhood, that doesn’t mean you don’t put locks on the doors,” Alfieri told the Statesman.

Idaho is ranked 28th in conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation’s election integrity scorecard, Alfieri said. Alfieri’s goal is to improve the Gem State’s position, he said. (McGrane said he agreed with the goal.)

Rep. Steve Tanner, R-Nampa, who sponsored at least two of the other election bills this session, didn’t return a request for comment.

In a House committee hearing this week, Rep. Jaron Crane, R-Nampa, said that House Bill 339, which aims to check voter registrations, “codifies” the process that the secretary of state already follows.

The bill advanced to the House floor with a committee recommendation to pass it.

There is no evidence of widespread fraud in recent elections, according to The Atlantic, but many officials like Trump have falsely claimed and without evidence that the 2020 election was stolen. Some of those lies have been costly: In 2023, Fox News settled with Dominion Voting Systems in a defamation lawsuit, paying almost $800 million to avoid trial, according to The Associated Press.

Idaho officials have expressed confidence in state elections before, the Statesman previously reported. For example, outspoken 2020 election denier Mike Lindell, CEO of MyPillow, in 2021 claimed that results in the state were manipulated to help former Democratic President Joe Biden.

That election, Trump won almost 64% of the vote in Idaho.

Idaho investigated and determined the claims were untrue. The state later billed Lindell for the cost of disproving him, along with sending a cease and desist letter, according to previous Statesman reporting.

“Do we believe there’s integrity in Idaho’s elections? Absolutely,” Chad Houck, former chief deputy secretary of state, said at the time.

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