No…commenters above sound like election fraud boosters with faulty arguments. Anyone paying attention to the details of the 2020 elections and the Newsom recall vote can see the election fraud is rampant.

Yes, Caeth, Idaho Code 50-707A, sometimes referred to as HB 413, requires cities over 100,000 population (Boise, and now Meridian and Nampa) to establish City Council Districts “based upon the most recent federal decennial census”. In this case, due to COVID, the most recent federal decennial census Boise City could use was 2010. The active word here is DECENNIAL.

Boise City should have used only the 2010 decennial Census numbers as the basis for establishing the Districts. But no, the City had to have their “consultants” also use Census American Community Survey (ACS) data to supplement the 2010 decennial numbers to come up with the Districts. The Lusk St area near BSU would have been a beneficiary of using ACS numbers. ACS numbers are estimates, not decennial numbers. There is no provision in IC 50-707A to use ACS numbers. That’s the first Trumpesque possibility.

The second Trumpesque possibility is the “consultants” also admitted they intentionally underestimated the population in one Council District. You can find that fact on the City’s web site along with at least one really terribly busy map. It also raises the question – why the underestimation?

So we can look forward to a Council District boundary redo sometime before the 2023 City election. Hopefully only 2020 federal decennial census numbers, and only those numbers, will be used. Don’t expect much change though in Council District lines, the powers that be already have decreed there will not be much change from the current boundaries.

EDITOR NOTE–That would certainly lower the official “density” of the district.

The census counts people where they live and sleep most of the time, and that includes college students.

The apartment part is irrelevant.

EDITOR NOTE–Unknown about timing, but we recall census figures were delayed due to COVID 19.

EDITOR NOTE–Not sure if included. However, census guidelines say you are counted where you are residing which would include apartments.

Idaho statute § 34-104 has been in place since 1970.

EDITOR NOTE–Steve, your headline forgets the BIG CHANGE which is local council districts. Boise District 5 candidates are foolish to avoid the electorate potential of BSU students.

EDITOR NOTE–My thought was that if students were mobilized and won it would lead to the “stole the election” claims by the loser a’la Trump. I have always wanted to see an 18 year old elected to the city council as well.

I don’t agree with the numbers but let’s say it’s true that there are 20,000 student votes up for grabs in District 5.

The Guardian seems to think these 20,000 bodies in our city are not legitimate electors because they are transitory, in that they just arrived and will soon depart. That seems at least a little plausible as a point of view until you ask, “when they go will they vanish into the ether, or will they be replaced?”

Of course they will be replaced. They will be replaced with another 20,000 students who are in the same situation, face the same pressures, and have the same needs, ideals (and idealism) and political perspective as the previous 20,000. These students are a part of our city. They deserve to vote just like the rest of us.

Here is an illustrative side note. A common argument against women’s suffrage was, “what’s the point? they will either double or cancel the votes of their husbands.”

The rejoinder to that argument, and one of the points of sufferage, was that women may have a consensus point of view that men are divided on and, once all of the votes are counted, it would turn out that 75% of the country is united on an issue that appears to be equally split when only the men talk about it. The same is true of students.

My advice to the Guardian is to win them over, not suppress them. Meeting a few of them might be a good first step.

EDITOR NOTE–You TOTALLY misinterpreted my intent. I AGREE students are a force and should be allowed to vote. Council candidates should cater to those votes. My reference to Trump was that he seemingly opposed allowing certain voters to cast ballots, hence claiming the Dems stole the election. FYI, the 20,000 figure was just an estimate based on the number of students at BSU.