Election tool in Idaho draws national attention for its transparency

BOISE, Idaho — Just weeks after its launch, Ada County’s new online elections transparency tool has drawn national attention, with a prominent technology publication saying that it will give election deniers “exactly what they’ve been asking for.”

The tool, Ballot Verifier, will give users free and direct access to every ballot cast in Ada County since 2022, the Ada County Clerk’s Office said in April.

It replaces onerous public records requests, according to a county news release. The tool allows voters to verify that ballots are being tabulated correctly by allowing them to view scanned images of each ballot cast. (The images do not contain voters’ personal information.)

Wired, a national tech and politics magazine, celebrated the tool as the height of election transparency.

Adam Friedman, the founder of the company that worked with Ada County to develop the tool, told Wired that a lack of transparency is a key driver for mistrust of electoral processes.

“A lot of the conspiracy theories and divisiveness and toxic rhetoric and mistrust around elections in America goes hand-in-hand with people not being able to see enough and people perceiving voting as being a black-box experience,” he said. “Ballot Verifier is really a way to turn a black box into a glass box.”