POST FALLS, Idaho — Political newcomer Victoria Bauman secured a 4-year position on the Community Library Network (CLN) Board of Trustees with a healthy 13.84 percentage win over Michelle Lippert, a well-known Post Falls resident who sat on the Post Falls School District Board of Trustees for over two decades.
“I am truly grateful to the voters who put their faith and trust in me. I am honored to serve as trustee on the CLN board and am so excited to continue the work the board has done to make libraries safe for children,” Bauman told Kootenai Journal. “I look forward to serving and representing the members of this community.”
Lippert did not provide a post-election comment.
The 21.9 percent voter turnout for the May 2025 election was lower than the May 2024 turnout (which did not have a CLN seat on the ballot) and significantly less than the 42.9 percent turnout in May 2023 when two CLN trustee seats were up for election.
However, when compared to the last time this CLN seat was up for election in 2019 when only 7.52 percent of registered voters in Kootenai County bothered to cast ballots, the 2025 turnout is still an improvement, and it is also slightly higher than the 18.6 percent turnout in 2021 when Rachelle Ottosen and Vanessa Robinson were elected in a contested election.
Bauman will be sworn in at the regular CLN monthly business meeting on Thursday, June 19.
