A federal court has rejected a request by the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee, a group arguing its rights were violated while campaigning at a northern Idaho school on Election Day.
The court last week denied the committee’s request to grant a permanent injunction that would have forced the Coeur d’Alene School District to allow groups to hand out election materials on school grounds even if they interfered with kids getting to school. The court didn’t rule on the merits of the case, which continues. But the court found that the group was unlikely to win the case because, among other things, it misinterpreted Idaho’s campaign-free-zone election law.
Specifically, the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee argues that it can hand out election materials anywhere on school grounds as long as the group is more than 100 feet from the building where voting is taking place. While campaigning is allowed at schools, The Coeur d’Alene School District contends it can prevent electioneering within 100 feet of campus grounds if groups are interfering with kids going to class.
The lawsuit stems from the Nov. 3, 2020, general election when a number of people set up at the Hayden Meadows Elementary School in Hayden and handed out sample ballots and talked to people about the election, encouraging them to vote for Republicans. Officials at the 350-student school became concerned that some individuals were taking up limited parking spots by setting up lawn chairs and a cooler, court documents said, and interrupting the free flow of traffic by talking to drivers entering the parking lot and potentially making kids late for school. They were asked to move.
But the group said in the lawsuit they were asked to move due to “viewpoint discrimination,” a violation of their rights under the U.S. Constitution. But Chief U.S. District Court Judge David C. Nye found that the group wasn’t asked to move due to the types of material they were handing out, and that the group failed to prove otherwise. (AP)
