Kovacs asks judge to overturn Kootenai County primary results

Kootenai County Assessor Béla Kovacs has asked a First District Court judge to set aside the May 19 Republican primary results, reviving his challenge to former chief deputy assessor Allyson Knapp’s residency.

The lawsuit, filed last week, follows Kovacs’s defeat by Knapp, who won 17,451 votes and 65% of the primary. Kovacs is again arguing that Knapp is not a Kootenai County resident. Commissioners previously upheld her homeowner’s exemption after examining her voter registration, driver’s license, vehicle registrations and utility bills tied to the Rathdrum home she owns.

Knapp first challenged Kovacs in August 2025. On Jan. 7, 2026, the Kootenai County Board of Equalization held a continuation hearing on her homeowner’s exemption appeal, where Knapp said her permanent residence had been at the Rathdrum property since August 2022. Her driver’s license, voter registration, utility bills and vehicle registrations all listed that address. Knapp has been registered to vote there since 2022 and has owned the property since 2018.

Kovacs pressed commissioners to subpoena Knapp’s tax returns and suggested sworn affidavits from neighbors in both Rathdrum and Newman Lake, Washington, where she also owns property. He has used that Washington property to argue she lives across the state line. Knapp has denied that allegation and maintained she is a Kootenai County resident.

On Jan. 15, 2026, commissioners Bruce Mattare and Leslie Duncan overruled Kovacs’s ineligibility finding and restored Knapp’s homeowner’s exemption, while Marc Eberlein abstained because of his personal relationship with Kovacs. Mattare said Kovacs had not produced documents confirming residency at another address. Kovacs later said five or six people in public places told him they believed Knapp was a Washington resident, which prompted his investigation.

Idaho Code section 34-2029 places primary contests in the district court of the county where the alleged error or omission occurred, which is why Kovacs filed in First District Court.

In 2025, Kovacs adopted a policy requiring employees who ran for assessor or helped a candidate against him to resign or face possible discipline if he decided their conduct would reasonably disrupt the office. More than 30 county employees voted no confidence in 2022.