A member of Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin’s education task force is facing a criminal electioneering charge in Kootenai County.
The Coeur d’Alene Press reported Tuesday on the complaint against Laura Van Voorhees, stemming from her conduct as a poll worker in November.
Van Voorhees, of Hayden, is accused of handing a voter a card with information about critical race theory. Idaho code forbids all electioneering within 100 feet of a polling place, including the circulation of “cards or handbills of any kind.”
Critical race theory was a talking point in many of November’s school board elections, including hotly contested races in Kootenai County and other corners of Idaho. It was also a focal point last summer, as McGeachin’s task force sought evidence of leftist indoctrination in K-12 schools and colleges and universities.
During the task force’s first meeting in May, Van Voorhees described a rift with her daughter, blaming it in part on critical race theory curriculum at the California college her daughter attended. “We are in a Marxist takeover, a communist takeover (in) this country. And this is a manifestation of it in our face. It’s in our homes.”
Electioneering carries a maximum fine of $1,000.
The Kootenai County prosecutor’s office filed a criminal complaint against Van Voorhees on Jan. 12, the Press reported. The case is scheduled to go to trial in May.
