An Idaho group tired of partisan primaries hopes to put an open primary system initiative to a vote of the people next year.
Idahoans for Open Primaries has announced it will launch a campaign aimed at allowing anyone to vote for all parties’ candidates at elections. The current system requires people to declare party affiliation to be allowed to cast ballots for that party’s candidates. Initiative sponsors say the goal of the measure is to "give power back to voters," rather than political parties.
“I really see it as a way where we can start talking about issues again instead of party affiliation," said Jean Gerth from Sagle, who volunteers for the group. "It’s become so extreme and Idaho is such a one-party state that it’s become very difficult to address some of the issues without getting overrun by party politics.”
Gerth says she will canvass her local community and collect signatures.
“I have no hesitation about putting this in front of people who have widely divergent political views because we can talk about issues. We can say that we want education better funded in Idaho. They’ve made big strides on that already. And we can continue to talk about that instead of the really splinter issues that are brought up, I think, to divide people, so things like the library censorship laws," she said.
The initiative would also institute a ranked choice system in which voters would rank candidates, rather than choose just one. If no candidates receive majorities during the initial ballot count, the last-place finishers would be eliminated and votes for them re-allocated based on the ranked choices. That process would continue until one candidate receives a majority. Advocates say that ensures the winner has broad support from voters.
The legislature this year approved a bill that forbids any government from institute ranked choice voting. Gerth says the initiative, if approved, would overturn that.
Sponsors of the measure hope it will appeal to people of all political stripes, including independents and Republicans turned off by the direction their party has moved in the last several years. They released a photo of former Republican state House Speaker Bruce Newcomb signing a petition at his ranch in southern Idaho.
The initiative petition has been submitted to the Secretary of State's office. If it receives the legal and bureaucratic go-ahead, the campaign can begin collecting signatures. They will need to submit signatures from at least six-percent of the number of voters who cast ballots during the last general election in 18 legislative districts. According to Ballotpedia, the initiative threshold for 2024 measures is about 63,000 signatures.
Gerth says the campaign would have until next spring to submit their petitions to have a chance to place the initiative on the November 2024 ballot.
