League of Women Voters provides election guide

May 6—A nonpartisan voter guide made available by the League of Women Voters of Idaho aims to provide the public with a one-stop shop for election information ahead of the May 17 primary.

The resource, located online at VOTE411.org, includes candidate profiles, polling places and a voter registration tool for residents across the state.

Murf Raquet, secretary of the League of Women Voters of Idaho and Vote411 facilitator for the Moscow chapter, says the organization reached out to more than 400 candidates to make the voter guide possible.

"It's an opportunity for them to get their word out to the voters," Raquet said. "We have a pretty good participation rate statewide with the candidates. All of them received invitations, but some chose not to participate."

Candidate responses are completely unedited, he added. On the website, users can click certain profiles and compare them side by side.

The resource is operated by volunteers and funded by donations from members as well as gifts received during the annual fundraiser for nonprofit organizations called Idaho Gives.

"It's allowed us to make enough money from donations to help pay the U.S. League for the use of the VOTE411 platform, because it costs money to maintain that and everything else," he said. "We don't take any corporate money or partisan money."

The League of Women Voters of Moscow has also been able to provide candidate profiles for Latah County primary elections.

The voter guide is one of the only resources in the state that's not published by a political party or otherwise affiliated group, according to Raquet.

"We make no recommendation for a candidate or a party," he said. "It's also important to emphasize that candidates send in their answers. They're not edited."

The deadline to request an absentee ballot for the May 17 primary is today at 5 p.m. Polls open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Election Day.

Palermo can be reached at apalermo@dnews.com or on Twitter @apalermotweets.