All Idahoans deserve a chance to vote in the primary.
Primary elections have been around since the early 20th century, promoted by the Progressive Movement to give voters more say in who gets nominated for public office. Early on, less than half of the states offered primaries to their voters, bowing instead to party bosses who wanted to make the pick at the national convention where they controlled the delegates. But at the 1968 Democratic National Convention, the delegates picked Vice-President Hubert Humphrey, who had not participated in the primaries, over Eugene McCarthy, who had handily won the primaries, advocating for the end of the very unpopular Vietnam War.
That tore the Democratic party apart, especially when Humphrey went on to lose the election to Richard Nixon.
There was a clamor for change after the ’68 convention debacle and reform groups like the League of Women Voters won the day, giving us the current national primary system for both parties. Little did the reformers know how this very instrument of direct democracy — the primary election — could be turned on its head and controlled by party bosses of a different sort — the purveyors of dark money funding right-wing extremists who run for office to cleanse the Republican Party of any moderation or anyone who does not support Donald Trump.
That Is the story of the Republican Party today in Idaho.
The Democratic Party in Idaho allows all voters including unaffiliated voters to cast a ballot in its primary. The Republican Party, on the other hand, mimics the party bosses of old and shuts down its primary election to anyone who is not officially registered as a Republican. If a Republican voter would rather not divulge party affiliation, he or she cannot vote in the Republican primary, which has become the deciding election in Idaho.
Worse yet is Idaho Republican leadership’s recent affection for closed caucuses, an even greater restriction on voter participation. The Idaho Capital Sun reported that only 6.8% of Republican voters participated in the Idaho Republican Presidential Caucus last May. It doesn’t take a political operative to predict what comes next. A few extremists identify as Republicans, claim to be the rightful heirs of the party of Lincoln and toss out loyal Republicans in restricted primaries.
To make it easier for Idahoans to vote in the primary, the Idahoans for Open Primaries coalition signed up thousands of Idahoans to get Proposition 1 on the November ballot. It gives all voters the opportunity to cast a vote in the primary of their choice by creating an open primary and ranked choice voting that gives Idahoans more say over who survives a primary and appears on the general election ballot. After all, Idaho’s elections are funded by taxpayer dollars and no one political party should be able to restrict who votes in which one.
What is particularly distressing is Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador’s effort to kill the open primary initiative. The Idaho Supreme Court dismissed his challenge to the proposition, but not before he expended taxpayer dollars to limit access to the Republican party primary.
Over recent years, the victims of Labrador’s efforts and those of his Party’s right-wing cronies who have manipulated Republican primaries in Idaho are conservative Republican incumbents who served their party in a loyal and faithful manner, but they didn’t pass muster with wingnuts who demand extremist voting records on every issue. They were done in by dark money, much of which drifts into Idaho from extremist causes out of state and some of which is raised right here in Idaho by purported businessmen and women who are family rich or married rich.
The irony of all this is how the Democratic Party that one might think to be the real enemy of these extremists remains relatively unaffected as the Republican primary becomes a love fest of the far right. It’s been quite a while since Democrats have held any sway with a majority of the state’s voters and the legislative districts from which Democrats are elected to legislative office remain basically the same. What has changed is the composition of the Republican Party in the state legislature, overwhelmed with extremist money that encourages those it supports to lie and distort the voting records of incumbent Republicans who don’t drink enough of the extremists’ kool-aid. In their place are radical wingnuts who serve special interests in no way reflective of Idaho’s once majoritarian Republican voters.
Idaho’s incumbent officeholders at the state and federal level could challenge these grifters and rescue the Republican Party from the invaders of the Right, but Sens. Jim Risch and Mike Crapo and Reps. Mike Simpson and Russ Fulcher cower in the halls of Congress and the floor of the Senate to the dark money forces behind the Party’s primary successes and submit to Donald Trump, who has orchestrated so much of the Party’s extremist agenda. When they appear before nonpartisan groups like the Boise Chamber of Commerce, theirs is a carefully calculated strategy only to address issues that paint a veneer of moderation while they play along with those MAGA folks to save their skin at party events.
Under the capitol dome in Boise, Gov. Brad Little shifts the Little machine (appropriately named) into survivorship gear, leaving what little there is of his leadership skills at home in Emmett as he announces he will oppose Proposition 1. With rumors swirling that Labrador only ran for attorney general so he could use it as a stepping-stone to the governor’s office, Little lives in fear he will lose to Labrador in a reelection bid if he dare challenge the far right. He remains comfortably in the camp of the wingnuts.
There are some bright lights in the public arena casting favor on Proposition 1. Gov.Butch Otter has publicly endorsed Prop 1 as has former Idaho House Speaker Bruce Newcomb and former Attorney General and Idaho State Supreme Court Chief Justice Jim Jones. But the lackluster Republican leadership of the Idaho Legislature has already announced they will challenge Prop 1 if it passes and revert to exclusionary primaries, thus overriding the will of the people. It would not be the first time the Idaho Legislature overruled voters who have passed initiatives into law.
A bustling Idaho economy is yet another reason to support Prop 1. The hair-brained schemes these wingnuts attempt to install in Idaho law are downright inimical to the legacy of an Idaho that respected individual freedoms. They have the potential of setting back efforts to recruit talent for all sectors of the Idaho economy.
A strong public school system is always in demand by businesses moving into a state, but Idaho’s far-right legislators attempt to provide public funding for private schools which will absolutely reduce funding from public schools. How about a woman’s control over her own body and the abortion ban that the compliant Little signed? Let’s see where Idaho women go to seek maternal and obstetrical care as they pass doctors on the road leaving Idaho. Or visit an Idaho library threatened with book bans. Just what the Idaho economy needs to thrive in a competitive global economy — a reputation as a book banning state.
Even more reason for voters to turn out en masse, vote for Proposition 1 and install the direct primary and ranked choice voting in Idaho elections.
Read more at: https://www.idahostatesman.com/opinion/readers-opinion/article293727439.html#storylink=cpy
