Idaho Secretary of State's office updates voter look-up tool after public reports website glitch

A number of Idaho residents expressed alarm on social media last week when they attempted to verify their voter registration, only to find there was no record of it. The glitch in the website has since been fixed, according to the Idaho Secretary of State’s Office. 

A member of a political Facebook group for Idaho women said on Aug. 10 that she couldn’t find her registration online. Several comments echoed her concerns after they went to check. 

A number of Idaho residents expressed alarm on social media last week when they attempted to verify their voter registration, only to find there was no record of it. The glitch in the website has since been fixed, according to the Idaho Secretary of State’s Office. 

A member of a political Facebook group for Idaho women said on Aug. 10 that she couldn’t find her registration online. Several comments echoed her concerns after they went to check. 

How to register to vote in Idaho, check registration and stay on voter rolls

The deadline to register to vote online is 11 days before an election. That is Oct. 23 for this year’s November general election. Eligible residents may also register at their polling location on Election Day or during early voting with a valid photo identification and proof of residence. A list of valid documents for voter registration can be found at voteidaho.gov/voter-registration/.

Registration must be updated if the voter moved, changed their name, or hasn’t voted in the past four years. Updating a registration uses the same process as registering for the first time and can be done online or by printing and filling out a PDF voter registration form and mailing it to the county clerk. 

To change party affiliation or become unaffiliated, voters must submit a signed form to their county clerk. 

Idaho election offices purge inactive voters every two years. In 2025, county election officials removed more than 144,000 individuals from voter rolls after performing required voter registration maintenance, the Idaho Capital Sun reported. Officials remove those who move out of state, have not voted in four years or who aren’t eligible.

“Same, I have been registered to vote since 1988. I have never missed an election. I’ve lived in the same home since 1992. All of the sudden they can’t find me?1?!” One woman commented, attaching a screenshot of a message from VoteIdaho.Gov saying there were no results for her search. 

A spokesperson for the Secretary of State’s Office said the searches affected people accessing the website on their cellphones. 

“In some cases, an extra space or the use of a middle name that was not included when the voter originally registered prevented the system from finding the voter’s record,” spokesperson Joe Parris said. “We have updated the tool to account for these issues. The issues did not affect anyone’s voter registration.” 

Some voters may notice that more information is required to look up their voter registration, including a driver’s license number or the option of providing the last four digits of their Social Security number, than before. 

Parris said those search fields were added in a recent vendor update to add “another layer of security to access voter lookup information.”