COEUR d’ALENE — Tuesday’s primary election is all about control, and this year it is up for grabs in both the Democratic and Republican parties.

For several years there was very little activity in the local Democratic primary elections because there are rarely any contested races on the local ballot. This year there are 16 contested races on the local Democratic ballot because of a Republican cross-over into that party’s primary races.

“We call them fake Democrats,” said Paula Neils, chairwoman of the Kootenai County Democratic Central Committee, adding that the cross-over forced them to get serious about the primary this year.

Former Republican Larry Spencer is attempting the coup d’état. In March, Spencer fielded 11 Republican candidates to run for key positions in the Democratic Party.

That caught the party off guard, Neils said.

“We certainly took it seriously, but it has actually been very good for us,” she said, adding that it energized the party to begin fielding candidates of its own.

The problem is many of those candidates will be running as write-in candidates against the “fake Democrats,” who will be named on the ballot.

“We are not too worried about that,” Neils said. “It appears they are not taking this very seriously, and even if all 11 of their candidates win, they still won’t be able to control the central committee.”

She said the party has verified who the real Democrats are and published them on its website and mailed out postcards with the names of the verified Democrats as well.

Neils said voters who select the Democratic ballot on Tuesday should check to make sure who their write-in candidates are in their voting precincts. Voters can check out who their candidates are online by going to the polling locator on the Kootenai County Elections website.

Carrie Phillips, the county’s elections manager, said voters can also ask the poll workers if there are any write-in candidates in the precinct.

“Poll workers are allowed to verbally tell the voters who the write-ins are, but they can’t have any printed materials,” she said. “A poll worker can also spell the name if a voter asks.”

That can be important because if the name is misspelled on the ballot, election workers will have to determine if the vote will count.

“If the spelling is close and we can gauge the voter’s intent, then we will count it,” Phillips said, adding that it’s very important to fill in the oval beside the name as well.

“If you don’t fill in the oval next to write-in, the machine has no way of knowing a vote has been cast,” she said. “So you have to fill in the oval and write in the name for the vote to count.”

Republican Party Primary

There is also a battle for control of the Republican Party.

“If there is a split in the party, it isn’t because the party has moved,” Idaho Republican Chairman Barry Peterson said. “The party represents a philosophy, but the party does not select the candidates.”

Peterson said the party has attracted many candidates with varied political philosophies — some who do follow the state party platform, and others who don’t.

“The party has passed rules to hold the candidates close to the party platform,” he said.

In this election cycle the party has asked each of the statewide and federal candidates to fill out the party’s platform survey to determine if the candidates support it. The results are published on the state party’s website.

Generally speaking, one slate of candidates is supporting Gov. Butch Otter and the other camp is supporting Otter’s challenger, Russ Fulcher. Each side appears to have fielded candidates for every open seat from the governor’s race on down the ballot to the precinct committee level.

“It is unusual that we have this wave that we have,” Peterson said. “We are in a place in time where everyone is challenged except for (State Treasurer) Ron Crane.

“I am not sure if that is precedent setting, but it is the first time in my lifetime that I have seen this.”

Political Action Committees have also helped define the two clear slates of candidates in this primary election cycle.

The North Idaho Political Action Committee is supporting the Otter slate of candidates, and the Republican Liberty Caucus of Idaho has endorsed the Fulcher camp.

The candidates the committees have endorsed and the issues the candidates support can be found on the committee websites.

Brad Corkill, NIPAC chairman, said the party has definitely changed over the past few years and that’s why NIPAC is involved.

“I know my values and beliefs have stayed the same since I was 25 years old,” Corkill said. “In the last four years the party has adopted planks that require us to follow their platform, and some of those would require me to give up some of my values.

“The candidates we are endorsing are the ones who more closely protect our individual freedom.”

Karen Calisterio, chairperson for the Liberty Caucus, did not return phone calls on Friday to discuss the reasons her organization chose its candidates.