BOISE, Idaho — Boise voters hit the polls November 2 to decide three seats on Boise City Council and to vote on a sewer bond.
As we've reported, this is the first time Boise City Council seats will be decided by the district rather than at large. This comes after the State Legislature passed a law during the 2020 session requiring Idaho cities with more than 100,000 people to elect officials by district rather than citywide.
This year, districts one, three and five are on the ballot. Some voters said they preferred voting for City Council candidates at large.
"Everyone was on the same ballot and I like the ability to vote for everybody at once, or at least every seat that was open, rather than just the one in my district," Boise district 3 resident, Gard Skinner said.
Others are like district 3 resident, Kris Hoffman who said she likes voting by district.
Regardless of voters' opinions, each City Council seat has at least two candidates running.
"I think there's a very contested...it'll be a very contested election in my district," Gard said.
In district 3 there are 3 candidates running against the incumbent, Lisa Sánchez. While Boise City Council is a nonpartisan race, campaigning in this district got political.
The Ada County Republican Party voiced their support for Greg MacMillan and their dislike of Lisa Sánchez. The Ada County Democrats got involved too, posting to Facebook and responding to a mailer from Macmillan's campaign claiming Boise Democrats support MacMillan.
Ada County Democrats said prominent local democrats have endorsed Sánchez.
The Ada County Republican party has also endorsed Luci Willits in District 1 and Steve Madden in District 5.
In all three districts, the candidates range in how they would address the top issues in Boise right now, meaning Boise City Council could be a lot different come January.
