A Facebook user named Sue reached out to the KREM 2 team, asking about party affiliation as an Idaho voter. She wanted to know if voters in Idaho are able now to change their party affiliation. She explained that she had heard from people being "turned down" when they recently attempted to switch party affiliation.

"Is changing party affiliation impossible now? Deadline?" she wrote on the KREM 2 Facebook page.

The source of the confusion is Idaho's primary system. It's a "closed primary," which means that political parties can restrict their elections to only voters affiliated with the party. The Idaho Secretary of State's website shows that party affiliation changes were no longer accepted after March 9th, in preparation for the May 15th primary. However, the website also shows that the option is once again available to voters now that the primary elections are over.

So, we can verify that Idaho voters are now able to change their party affiliation.

To be sure, party affiliation is less important for the upcoming stages of the election, anyway. With the general election in November, voters will not be restricted to voting within their designated party as they were in the primary election.

In Washington voters don't even put a party affiliation when they register to vote. Washington operates as a "top two primary" state, meaning the "party preference" of the candidates is not relevant to voting outcomes. Primary winners could be two Republicans, two Democrats, one of each (or neither, depending on traction from third party candidates).

If you have a question or claim you want KREM 2 to verify, send us an email at verify@krem.com.