COEUR d’ALENE — Democrats hoping Idaho will swing blue in November have their work cut out for them.

New figures compiled by the Kootenai County Elections Office indicate a growth-topping spike in the area’s number of registered voters, the vast majority of whom file as either Republican or Unaffiliated.

Of the 84,513 total voters currently registered in Kootenai County, only 9,265 are affiliated with the Democratic Party, making up less than 11 percent of the electorate.

Jennifer Locke, chief deputy clerk for Kootenai County, said population growth throughout North Idaho has contributed heavily to the spike in voters, adding that the staff is prepared for whatever voting turnout comes its way.

“Right now, we’re just preparing an absentee mailout coming out Jan. 24,” she said. “We’re hoping for a good turnout for the primaries.”

Shem Hanks, chair of the Kootenai County Democrats, said he’s encouraged that while the numbers likely signify growth in the region more than any other factor, more people are taking an interest in politics.

“I think people are wanting to become more involved,” Hanks said. “I think people want to take part in the process, and I think, more and more, people want to see change.”

He added before the numbers were released that he thinks his party’s platform resonates with the concerns of many voters.

Republicans, meanwhile, maintain a healthy majority of voters in Kootenai County: 45,652 affliated Republicans, or 54 percent of the area’s voters.

Republicans and Democrats aren’t the only parties to show up to the party. Two other parties made themselves statistically notable in the counts: Exactly 809 Liberatarians are registered in Kootenai County, while 387 people count themselves as part of the Constitution Party.

A hefty hunk of the electorate marked themselves as unaffiliated, meaning their votes are potentially up for grabs. Kootenai County Republican Central Committee chair Brent Regan said a recent rule change during the Idaho Republican Party’s winter meeting will make it clear to all voters who can vote for the Republican candidates in both the March 10 presidential and May 19 state primaries.

“The words ‘including a presidential primary election’ were added to eliminate any ambiguity about this rule applying to Presidential Primaries,” Regan said. “It does ... It was always assumed that the [Presidential] Primary was included, but there was some ambiguity. This rule change removes the ambiguity.”

“My immediate hope is that those unaffiliated voters would want to first participate in our Democratic Primary,” Hanks said. “Right now, in Idaho, Democrats have the only semi-open primary. [Those voters] could be part of the process in determining who should lead our country. But mostly, as Democrats here, my hope is that we show in our actions that we represent Idaho’s values enough to convince those unaffiliated voters to say, ‘Hey, let’s vote Democrat.’”

Compared to November’s count, the math has only marginally shifted. November’s count showed 9 percent of the county affiliated as “Democrat,” compared to 11 percent today. Republicans in November made up 53 percent of the electorate, close to today’s 54 percent count.