TWIN FALLS, Idaho — Campaign mailers, texts, and ads are flooding Twin Falls voters ahead of Tuesday’s primary, and it turns out— they can find out exactly who is paying for the ads.
Every campaign ad, flyer, text, or billboard should include a statement disclosing who paid for it. Idaho's Sunshine Laws require candidates and political action committees to share where their money comes from and how they're spending it.
WATCH: Find out where those political text ads are coming from...
Rachel Shaw said she voted early and had already been receiving a steady stream of campaign communications — including one that arrived right before she spoke with me.
"I definitely get multiple a week, and it makes me wonder— if I gave them my number at some point and I just don't remember? Or is my number out there [because] 'she's a registered voter— here's her number to advertise to her,'" Shaw said.
Idaho Secretary of State Phil McGrane said knowing the source of political messaging is especially important during election season.
"And especially this time of year when mailings are coming through, or you see billboards or other things, it's important to know what the source of that information is," McGrane said.
McGrane said data from the 2024 election cycle shows that the majority of negative attack ads came from political action committees — and that most of those committees were out-of-state organizations.
"One of the things we know from the 2024 cycle, for example, is the majority of attack ads, the negative ads that you see, come from action committees and among those actually in 2024, the majority of those committees doing negative ads were out-of-state organizations," explained McGrane.
The Secretary of State's Sunshine Portal website makes it easy to look up information about organizations paying for ads in Idaho elections. While state law does not regulate what those ads can say, McGrane said transparency about funding sources gives voters the tools to evaluate the messaging themselves.
"We don't dictate what they can say. Free speech is very broadly protected, especially in politics, but we can at least know the sources of the money and who is doing that speech so that you can evaluate [them] for yourself," McGrane said.
Polls are open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, May 19.
You can find our entire election-based coverage here: Primary Election 2026
This story was initially reported by a journalist and has been, in part, converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
