A prominent feature at the NPC Dems booth at the Nez Perce County Fair this year was a three-tiered rack holding 18 large mason jars, each labelled with a current issue like “affordable housing” or “access to health care and Medicaid”. This was the mechanism we used to conduct our informal “garbanzo bean poll” during the fair. As noted in our earlier post, the poll generated a lot of interest and gave our volunteers an easy opening for conversations with fairgoers.
Why Garbanzo Beans?
Members of the Communications Committee had heard of another Idaho party chapter using a similar method that involved jars and marbles. When we decided to do the poll, we thought the estimated cost of marbles was too much. One committee member, a farmer, offered us garbanzo beans at no cost. Decision made!
The Issues
The 18 issues were grouped as “Local”, “Regional”, and “National” as follows:
Local Issues
- Affordable Housing
- Crime
- Public Access to State Lands
- Public Schools
- School Choice: private or charter
- Water & Sewer
Regional Issues
- Access to Health Care & Medicaid
- Immigration, Legal
- Immigration, Illegal
- ICE Raids
- Reproductive Rights
- Responsiveness of Elected Officials
National Issues
- Constitution & Due Process
- Equal Rights for All
- National Economy
- Safety of Social Security & Medicare
- Access to abortion
- Judicial Authority & Contempt of Court Enforcement
Our Method
As noted above, this was an informal, unscientific poll. Participation in the poll was completely anonymous. We did not ask for any personal information, we didn’t ask if the individual was a resident of Nez Perce County. We encouraged teenagers and pre-teens to participate. (They’ll be voters soon enough!)
Anyone who stopped at the booth was invited to take 3 garbanzo beans from a bowl and drop them in the jars that reflected the issues they thought were most important. Over the four day run of the fair, almost 3,000 beans were dropped into the jars.
The Results
The results of the poll, as tallied by George Grenley and Louise Henriksen, were presented at the Central Committee meeting on September 24, 2025.
Estimated Participation
2,986 garbanzos were dropped in the jars. While a few people dropped fewer than three, and several dropped more, the count suggests that about 995 people participated.
Totals for the 18 individual issues were as follows:
Second Pass
While counting the beans, we identified several issues that were closely related:
- “Reproductive rights” and “Access to Abortion”
- “Immigration, Legal” and “Immigration, Illegal”
When we combined those issues together, we got a slightly different prioritized list.
Third Pass
A third consolidation was also conducted, grouping together
- “Reproductive rights” and “Access to Abortion” with “Access to Health Care and Medicaid”
- “Constitution & Due Process of Law” with “ICE Raids”
- “Public and Charter School Funding” with “School Choice, Private, Parochial, Academy”
Upon further consideration, we felt that the third pass combined categories were too broad.
What Now?
Individual Issue Counts
One member of the Central Committee commented that our poll “broke every rule” for generating statistically valid results, but it did provide us with some useful guidance for further communications with local voters. The Communications Committee agreed, and characterized the results as “not precise, but directionally correct”.
With the poll results in hand, we now start asking “what do we do with them?” Since “Affordable Housing” was #1 or #2 in each of the groupings, it seemed like a good topic to pursue further. We are exploring the possibilities for hosting an expert panel discussion on the reasons housing is unaffordable in the LC Valley. More news on that to follow as plans are developed.
If you have thoughts, reactions, or ideas for next steps, we’d like to hear them. You can post a comment below or send an email to info@npcdems.org.
###
Do you have a question? A suggestion? A topic you’d like to see covered in a future article? If so, please leave us a message by leaving a comment below or through the Contact Form. We’re listening.