Idaho open primaries initiative cleared for November ballot

Idaho voters will have a significant issue to decide on their November ballots: Should Idaho’s closed party primary system be abolished and standard voting in the general election be replaced with ranked-choice voting? The Idaho Secretary of State’s Office announced Wednesday that a prominent ballot initiative met the signature requirements to be put before voters in November. Organized by a coalition called Idahoans for Open Primaries, the initiative gathered nearly 75,000 verified signatures in recent months, eclipsing the state requirement that organizers secure close to 63,000 signatures.

The announcement sets up a potential clash with Republican Attorney General Raúl Labrador, who has said he would attempt to block the measure from the ballot, according to previous Statesman reporting. Labrador’s spokesperson, Dan Estes, told the Idaho Statesman by email Wednesday that Labrador does not comment on “potentially pending or ongoing litigation.” “We believe a challenge from AG Labrador is likely, and we are confident the challenge will fail,” Luke Mayville, a lead organizer of the initiative effort, told the Statesman by text. “There’s nothing unconstitutional about giving all voters the right to participate in primary elections.” County clerks initially sorted through tens of thousands of signatures earlier this summer, culling any that could not be verified in the petition drive. The final signature tally was submitted to the secretary of state earlier this month for the last step in the process: final state approval. The Secretary of State’s Office is asking for submissions of pro and con arguments about the initiative, some of which will appear in a pamphlet voters will receive before Election Day.

The controversial initiative has pitted reform-minded Idahoans against hard-right conservatives, who have pulled the GOP to the right in recent years largely through a closed-party primary process that determines the outcome of many state elections before the general election takes place. State GOP leaders have vehemently opposed the initiative, with party chair Dorothy Moon calling it a “pernicious plot” to dilute power in the Legislature. But other prominent Republicans and former state leaders have rallied behind the measure, arguing that it would give a wider spectrum of Idahoans a say in choosing their leaders and select more candidates who have broad appeal. Former Gov. Butch Otter, former House Speaker Bruce Newcomb, and former attorney general and chief justice of the Idaho Supreme Court Jim Jones have lined up in support of the effort. The coalition lists around 120 Republicans — some former lawmakers, sheriffs or state officials — who have endorsed the ballot measure on its website.

Current elected Republicans have been quieter. Gov. Brad Little has not taken a public position on the initiative, and a spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday. Secretary of State Phil McGrane also has not offered a stance, and he did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In a news release, McGrane’s office said organizers “met the required threshold of 62,895 valid petition signatures” and the requirements “for distribution across at least 18 legislative districts, with a minimum of 6 percent of registered voters from each district.” Mayville said more than 2,000 volunteers worked to collect the signatures.

“They were motivated by the belief that all voters, regardless of party affiliation, have a right to participate in every Idaho election,” he said. Mayville previously told the Statesman that “powerful party insiders and special interest groups” oppose the measure “because they know that it will give power to ordinary voters to choose their own leaders.”

“These special interest groups want to hand-pick our leaders themselves, and they understand that the closed primary system allows them to do that,” he said.

Idaho open primaries initiative cleared for November ballot, setting up potential clash

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