COEUR d'ALENE - After hearing an hour of passionate testimony on Tuesday largely objecting to a dramatic reduction in voter precincts, the Kootenai County commissioners voted to allow another two weeks to drum up different ideas.

"I think (Clerk Cliff Hayes) will come up with a good strategy," said Commissioner Jai Nelson. "We want good voter turnout, but we also need to balance that with being efficient and economical."

Roughly 40 residents attended a public hearing at the administration building, where Hayes presented a proposal to shrink county precincts from 71 to 44.

He noted there would be tax dollar savings in reducing staff hours and facility costs. Odd election years would see savings of $59,000 a year, Hayes said, and even years - which sometimes include presidential races - would save $79,000 a year.

The average precinct size would have 1,600 voters, Hayes said, up from the current 992.

The largest precinct would decrease from 2,847 voters to 2,397. The smallest would jump from 210 to 799.

"I attempted to follow up on the commissioners' suggestion to keep driving times down to 30 minutes," Hayes said.

Folks who shared their opinions spoke of fear of disenfranchisement, and emphasized the importance of keeping voting convenient in an age of low turnout.

"A 30 minute drive? Are you serious?" said Richard Seward. "The harder it is to vote, the fewer votes you get."

He suggested saving money by paying poll workers less, he said.

"The next time you put your names on the ballot, you might be glad you killed this idea," Seward said.

Larry Spencer, Hayden resident and vocal community activist, said he drove the route that voters from precinct 3 would have to travel to vote in their new precinct.

He said the drive took 43 minutes.

"Commissioner Tondee in that time could drive from his home to the airport. The one in Spokane," Spencer said.

Others worried that combined precincts could result in hours of waiting at polling stations.

Multiple precinct committeemen testified about walking door to door to the homes of voters in their precincts, and sending out mailers on their own dime, to boost turnout.

Increasing voters in many precincts will make those efforts harder, they said.

"My precinct has 800, and that's about all I could handle," said Ron Mendive, committeeman for precinct 65.

Lorri Erickson of Coeur d'Alene noted that the county has increased precinct numbers gradually over the past few decades to accommodate increasing population.

Former Clerk Dan English also warned that cutting precinct numbers might result in lacking enough polling locations for peak elections.

Brent Reagan proposed an idea Hayes was open to looking into: Maintaining the same precincts, but having them share polling stations.

County officials noted that each precinct might still need its own staff at each location, to accommodate voting numbers.

"I don't think you'd be saving on personnel," said Commissioner Dan Green.

Nelson pointed out that the commissioners' deadline for finalizing precincts can be extended beyond January this year, because of the recent redistricting.

But Commissioner Todd Tondee reminded that changing computer data to include new precinct voters will take weeks, and must be completed before elections in March.

"We're in a pretty big time crunch today," Tondee said. "For elections, we have to get this done."