COEUR d'ALENE - After all that work, they're not done yet.

The Kootenai County commissioners voted unanimously at their business meeting on Tuesday to rescind the recently adopted 70 voter precincts, which had been adjusted to comply with new legislative redistricting.

Because the Idaho Supreme Court had promptly found the legislative districts unconstitutional, that rendered the new precincts "null and void," Commissioner Jai Nelson noted.

This leaves the county back with its previous 71 precincts, and the commissioners tasked with revising them again to accommodate the revised legislative redistricting plan adopted by the state on Friday.

Or maybe not.

Facing contrasting needs for approaching elections, the commissioners are uncertain when and how new precincts should be adopted.

"There's a lot of confusion," said Commissioner Todd Tondee after Tuesday's meeting.

The commissioners acknowledged the concern of Elections Manager Carrie Phillips, who said the Elections Department doesn't have time to update voter data for new precincts in time for the upcoming Lakeland Joint School District levy election on March 13.

Carrie pointed out that absentee ballots must be sent out on Feb. 10.

"Between now and then, you could imagine trying to update even just 17 precincts, which are in the Lakeland School District," Phillips said after the meeting. "The risk of error is so high, trying to rush everything."

The commissioners agreed with county attorney John Cafferty that the original 71 precincts should stand for the March election.

"The most efficient use of resources is to use the 71," Cafferty advised the elected officials. "Everyone knows where their polling places are now under the 71."

But there's a hiccup. New precincts need to be in place by Feb. 27, the first day for candidates to file at the county for the May 15 primary election.

Precinct committeemen in particular need to know of revised precinct boundaries, Nelson noted.

Commissioner Dan Green suggested creating new precincts immediately, with the stipulation that the new boundaries take effect after the March election.

"It won't be retroactive, but proactive," he said as the commissioners weighed options they could vote on at a later meeting.

But Nelson was leery of whether candidates can file when their precincts technically aren't valid.

"How can you run for a precinct that's not memorialized?" she said.

Tondee said there will be many discussions to determine what course to take.

Kootenai County had joined Twin Falls County's lawsuit challenging last fall's redistricting Plan L87.

The newly adopted Plan L93 divides the state into 35 legislative districts. Kootenai County is divided into districts 2, 3 and 4, without any of its population combined with another county, as was the case in the former map, with more than 5,000 county residents combined into a district with multiple other counties.

Green said he is satisfied with the new legislative district boundaries.

"This is what our goal in challenging the suit was, to keep Kootenai County whole, and that's what's been accomplished," he said.

Kootenai County won't require significant precinct changes to accommodate the L93 Plan, Green said after Tuesday's meeting.

"I think that's what people would like to know," he said.