Poll worker, a McGeachin task force member, charged with electioneering

HAYDEN (Idaho Statesman) — A Hayden poll worker, most known as a member of Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin’s indoctrination task force last year, is facing a criminal misdemeanor charge of electioneering at the polls, court records show.

The Coeur d’Alene Press first reported on Tuesday that Laura Van Voorhees was allegedly seen offering a card printed with information about critical race theory to a voter at a polling place on Nov. 2. The Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office and Prosecutor’s Office conducted an investigation into the incident, Kootenai County Prosecuting Attorney Barry McHugh confirmed to the Idaho Statesman.

Records show she pleaded not guilty to the electioneering charge on Jan. 31.

Idaho’s electioneering law makes it illegal to try to persuade or prevent someone from voting a certain way while at a polling place. It forbids circulating “cards or handbills of any kind” within 100 feet of a polling place. Those convicted face a fine between $25 to $1,000.

Last summer, McGeachin launched a task force to investigate claims of indoctrination in Idaho’s schools. The task force held four meetings, from May through August — all of which were at least four hours long — at which members heard primarily from people who supported their claims of indoctrination, the Idaho Statesman reported.

Van Voorhees was one of the task force’s 14 members and a recent California transplant. During a task force meeting, she attributed critical race theory teachings at a California college to the reason she and her daughter have a poor relationship.

“My own opinion, that I’m sure that many people that I’ve talked to share it, that we are in a Marxist takeover, a communist takeover, of this country,” Van Voorhees said at one meeting.

Van Voorhees will be tried before a jury on May 2, according to court records.