Elmore County Clerk Shelley Essl notified the state on Nov. 14 that she found a discrepancy between the number of ballots cast and the number counted in the Nov. 4 election, Idaho Secretary of State Phil McGrane told the Idaho Statesman.

With less than a week to go before a runoff election, two candidates are still in the race to become Idaho Falls’ new mayor. Thousands of votes were cast on Nov.

After identifying 300 uncounted ballots in the certified results, Elmore County officials are conducting a full hand review to ensure accurate final totals.

Following the report of the ballot discrepancy, Secretary of State Phil McGrane and 17 other elected officials from the secretary's office aided in the hand count.

Observers say political parties are bringing partisan messaging into nonpartisan races. Idaho GOP chair called nonpartisan elections a "farce."

The Idaho Secretary of State’s Office on Tuesday said its election team planned to go to Elmore County to investigate.

In order for our elections to work, voters must have confidence that their votes will count," said Secretary of State McGrane. "Today we demonstrated our commitment to ensuring just that. I’m proud of my team and grateful to Elmore County for partnering with us as we’ve worked to correct this error and investigate what went wrong on election day.

McGrane was in Kootenai County to watch the canvassing of votes. He said the voting tallies were accurate and there is strong voter confidence in the integrity of Idaho elections. “Idaho is in a really good place,

On Monday, the Secretary of State’s office recounted 3,193 ballots by hand after an initial audit found 373 votes in the November 4th election had not been tallied.

Early voting for the Idaho Falls runoff election has been strong, with more than 1,080 in-person ballots cast and about 250 absentee ballots returned so far, but data shows that younger voters continue to have the lowest turnout.

About 300 ballots in Elmore County were not counted in the results of the Nov. 4 election, prompting an investigation into what caused the discrepancy.

Donations, loans and contributions have been made in support of the two candidates for Idaho Falls mayor as the city prepares for a runoff election on Dec. 2.