We moved into our new home in September 2022. The move from Fairmont Street to 200 South Road was only a little over a mile. It changed quite a few things. We changed elementary schools, we changed routes to work, we changed Wards, we changed Stakes, and we changed Precincts. We were in the Burley 4 Precinct and now are located, oddly, in the Starrh’s Ferry Precinct.

Starrh’s Ferry is a large Precinct, named after the historical ferry across the river. Here is the language from the historical marker:

“In 1880, George Starrh, a Snake River placer miner, started a ferry across Snake River one mile north of here.

“From 1880-2, freighters hauling supplies for a mining rush to Wood River used Starrh’s ferry (powered by river current when stiff winds were not blowing too hard), and local traffic lasted until Milner reservoir flooded out summer operations after 1904. But a small town with a post office (1909-12) remained there for more than a decade. During that time, nearby bridges replaced Starrh’s ferry.

Late last year the current Precinct Committeeman lost her husband and had some of her own health issues. In conversation she had indicated she did not think she would run again and I said I would be happy to run for the position so she did not have to worry. She was very gracious. Just weeks before the registration period she sounded like she might be planning to run again and suggested she let me know if she was going to do it. A few days before, she let me know she would not be running again. I had heard maybe another lady, Melissa Brown, would be running but nothing was confirmed and the current Committeeman didn’t say anything about another candidate. I threw my hat in the race on the first day for Candidate filing. That same day, Ms. Brown also filed for the same seat. The race was now on.

Before running, I also learned that Gem State Conservatives was building a coalition across the state to help committeeman run in contested races that were considered more mainstream Republican. The basic idea was that various individuals would assist candidates to help ‘right the Republican ship’ from the ‘conservative’ contingent of the party. A wide variety of aids would be made available from access to online registries to the covering of the costs for signs and postcards. There would be total autonomy on which resources we wanted to use, if any. Various meetings would be set up in order to help train on how to navigate the campaign website and even putting together a slogan. Also was the option of networking across the state to learn from other committeeman candidates. These all turned out to be very valuable resources. The meetings also helped provide encouragement in the topsy turvy emotions of a race.

I had assisted with various campaigns throughout the years, from U.S. Senator down to a city Mayor. The basic idea is always the same, connect with the voter. As I downloaded all the registered voters of my Precinct, I realized I already knew or had interacted with about 70% of them in some fashion over the past decade. When I started, the Starrh’s Ferry Precinct had 729 registered voters in roughly 396 households. Some of those are duplicates as married couples living with their parents, or college children, and more, are really not a separate household. There were 358 separate mailing addresses. The work started.

You can see the signs above. They are free to all candidates, but are generic and all basically the same. I was not in love with my short name in such a small fashion. You cannot cuss free signs though. I did my first mailer very early in the season as part of the Presidential Caucus. The Idaho Republican Party was kind enough to provide the Caucus jpeg. It brought about a dozen texts asking for more information. I dare say the flyer was effective as the Starrh’s Ferry Precinct was the best attended of the Precincts that caucused at Burley High School’s King Fine Arts Center.

The next stage was texting or calling every single person on the registered voter list. That turned out to be somewhat of a nightmare. My phone did not like texting over 700 people in two days in April. I did not want to use an auto-dialer. If someone wanted to reach out to me, I hoped they would do so. But then I could also avoid potential federal law on auto-dialers and all the disclosures that sometimes can get problematic. Just me, raw Paul Ross.

That drummed up another dozen conversations. Very helpful. Started quite a few conversations. Interesting how many people responded “STOP” but then were surprised and chatty when they realized a real person was sending out the text messages. A hurdle for me is that I still have my (801) prefix on my phone. Various said they don’t live in Utah. But it also helped cull the herd as many indicated they had moved, no longer lived in Idaho, and various other things. After a series of chats or text chains, a number of people were asking for more.

Now it was time to put up signs. The signs arrived near the end of April. I had my strategic war map of the precinct and where would be the best sites for signs. Gem State Conservatives provided 25 signs. Of course the signs on corners never get much attention. Nothing more than weeds. But well selected sites, with property owners taking ownership of the signs, is best. That conjures up conversations between neighbors, discussions about issues, and questions for candidates to find out their stances. That was less than a sign per square mile in Starrh’s Ferry! I had to be very strategic on which stretches and which houses. Most were very complimentary and willing to help. It was just taking the time to go and visit each site and get the signs up. Hopefully in a way that an Idaho wind wouldn’t remove it. We did have some crazy winds for many days. I did have to replace the stands on more than a dozen signs, more than half of the total signs.

Then the voting started. That is when people started doing some homework and reaching out to friends and family. The first week of voting I lost at least an hour a day from work in responding to texts and addressing questions. It is always nice when the majority of the precinct is already familiar with, knowledgeable of, or circumstantially aware of both the candidates. Discussion and contrasting seems to be easily done and people do it on their own after asking their own questions. I really did not have to present myself, usually just answering questions. I was also surprised by how many of the questions really did not have to deal with my precinct race, but rather the contested Sheriff race (between Jarrod Thompson and Travis Worthington) and the Legislative District 27B race (between Clay Handy and Pat Fields). By giving insight and answers to both of those races, and even the U.S. Representative race (between Mike Simpson, Scott Cleveland, and Sean Higgins), the answers I provided gave them the information they also felt they needed for the Precinct race.

We still have a week of early voting to go and then the election on May 21st. Here are some flyers I have seen for people. Steve Taggart, a friend of mine in Idaho Falls, is running for a Precinct in Bonneville County.

Here is the one for my opponent.

Since I already felt I have connected and did not need to do as much cold-call introductions, I kept mine to the more generic postcard.

There is the profile that is listed for Gem State Conservatives. Here is my biography:

Hi! I’m running for Republican Precinct Committeeman to represent Starrh’s Ferry on the County Rep. Committee. I have helped build and sustain our County party since 2014, serving as Chairman since 2022. I am involved in the community as an attorney, helping bring a public charter school, and more. I am asking for your vote on May 21. Contact me at paulnjross@hotmail.com

I guess we will see how things actually turn out on the 21st. But this week almost a dozen people texted or called to let me know that they voted early. The thought that they wanted to let me know makes me think it was for me (if they are in my Precinct). I voted on the first day early voting opened.

This week I will text everyone in my precinct again to encourage them to remember to vote, either early or on May 21st.

There are so many stories I want to share from discussions, but those will have to be in my journal and not in the public forum of my blog.