CALDWELL, Idaho — Incumbent Rep. Scott Syme is seeking a recount after losing to fellow incumbent Rep. Judy Boyle in the race for District 9 House seat B by six votes.
Redistricting changed most districts in Idaho forcing some incumbent lawmakers to face off and two days after the election, Republican lawmakers Boyle and Syme are both still hoping to win the race in District 9.
“I feel I owe it to my supporters and to the process because six votes is such a close margin when you have over 9 thousand votes,” Syme said.
Parts of both Canyon County and Payette County make up district 9. According to Canyon County results — Syme who has been a lawmaker for about 6 years, actually came out 13 votes ahead of Boyle. But, with Payette county added in, Syme lost to Boyle by 6 votes which is just 0.1%, allowing him to request a recount at the state’s expense.
“Those people that didn’t vote in the primary, they need to start realizing that the primary vote in Idaho on many cases is the elections so that's who will be representing them,” Syme said.
In a state the size of Idaho — every vote truly counts in these smaller district races.
“I think particularly in this kind of election, your vote absolutely does matter. A lot of these races are really decided by only a dozen votes or so,” Boise State Political Science Professor Charles Hunt said.“Voting is a collective enterprise. It is an individual choice but a collective enterprise and that everyone’s votes matter and so if as collective certain groups of voters decide not to get out there then that is not just one person but a group that is not being heard from.”
If the recount returns the same results, Syme says he will accept that.
“My response would be, the people have spoken and I'm fine with it,” Syme said.
