How did Idaho voters cast their ballots in the 2024 presidential election?

1. Why the Numbers Point to a Strong Republican Win — and Exactly How Strong

State results published during and after the canvass show Trump receiving roughly two-thirds of Idaho’s vote and the Democratic ticket receiving about thirty percent, with third-party candidates combined in the low single digits; those margins awarded Trump all four of Idaho’s electoral votes under the winner-take-all system ^{[1] [2]}. The most detailed near-final result set cited a 66.9% share for Trump and 30.4% for Kamala Harris, with other candidates totaling approximately 2.7% based on 99% of expected votes reported, which is a standard threshold for calling state outcomes when only a small proportion of provisional or overseas ballots remain ^[1]. Idaho’s result is consistent with its modern voting history as a solidly Republican state, and the scale of the margin aligns with pre-election expectations and exit polls that showed a large GOP tilt in the state’s electorate ^{[1] [2]}.

2. Record Ballots and Conflicting Turnout Metrics — What’s Being Counted Matters

Official and local reporting documents indicate a record raw count of ballots cast in the 2024 general election in Idaho, with one report listing 914,302 ballots and noting this exceeded the 2020 total of 878,527, but different sources report turnout rates that appear to conflict because they use different denominators—registered voters versus voting-age population ^{[2] [4]}. The Idaho elections portal and canvass materials provide downloadable datasets and dashboards for ballots by county, precinct, and demographic breakdowns, allowing analysts to compute turnout either as a percentage of registered voters (which yields higher rates) or of the voting-age population (which yields lower rates); one VoteIdaho release cited 77.83% of registered voters casting ballots while a Ballotpedia consolidation used a 63.4% VAP-based figure, illustrating how methodological choices change the headline figure ^{[3] [4] [5]}.

3. How Voters Cast Their Ballots — Modes and Local Patterns

The distribution of voting methods in Idaho shifted toward in-person early voting exceeding mail-in absentee ballots in 2024 according to state summaries, which reported roughly 218,586 in-person early votes versus 173,317 absentee votes, with election-day and other categories comprising the remainder; these mode splits affect administration and post-election audits ^[2]. County-level variance was substantial: overall reported county turnout averaged in the mid-80s in some compilations, with Minidoka County cited at 96.8% and Blaine County at 67%, reflecting localized demographic and registration patterns as well as differences in how turnout is computed and reported ^[2]. The state’s downloadable canvass and precinct-level files are the authoritative sources for reconstructing precise mode-by-mode totals and county-level swings ^{[3] [5]}.

4. Administrative Issues and Who Was Affected — ID Law and Ballot Access

Election reporting singled out administrative changes that affected some voters’ ability to cast ballots: a new Idaho ID requirement disallowed certain student IDs and required state-issued or federal/tribal photo identification, which election administrators acknowledged created barriers for a subset of voters who had to obtain acceptable ID to complete their ballots ^[2]. State materials and local reporting documented outreach and provisional-ballot handling to mitigate disenfranchisement, but the ID rule remains a significant administrative factor that election monitors and civil-society groups flagged as having potential to reduce turnout among students and others lacking compliant IDs ^[2]. The official canvass and county clerks’ reconciliation reports provide the best documentation for the number of provisional ballots related to ID and how many were ultimately counted ^{[3] [5]}.

5. Why Sources Differ and Where to Go for the Final Word

Different public summaries and media projections produced slightly different percentages and turnout metrics because they rely on distinct snapshots of returns, rounding conventions, and turnout denominators, and some media projections folded Idaho into national narratives about the 2024 presidential outcome ^{[6] [7]}. For definitive, auditable figures, the Idaho Secretary of State’s canvass, precinct-level results, and the VoteIdaho downloadable datasets are the primary sources; they contain the reconciled vote totals, method-of-vote breakdowns, and the official count that certifies the allocation of Idaho’s four electoral votes ^{[3] [5]}. Secondary compilations and national outlets are useful for context and near-real-time interpretation but should be cross-checked against the state canvass files for precise counts and turnout definitions ^{[1] [7]}.