Prop 1 would transform Idaho elections

BOISE (Idaho Capital Sun) — One of the most closely watched elections in Idaho in 2024 may not involve any candidates or political parties.

Instead, Idahoans across the state are following Proposition 1, the ballot initiative that seeks to repeal Idaho’s closed party primary elections. Instead of closed primaries, Proposition 1 would create nonpartisan top-four primary elections that are open to all candidates and all voters, regardless of party affiliation. Proposition 1 would also create ranked-choice voting in the general election.

“There seems to be quite a bit of attention to the initiative in either direction, among both supporters and the opposition,” said Jaclyn Kettler, a political scientist at Boise State University. “There are a lot of signs out there now, different organizations have been really active on the measure and it just seems that there is a good amount of attention and organizing around it, both for and against.”

Kettler, who studies government, politics and Idaho elections, isn’t surprised interest in the initiative is increasing as the Nov. 5 Election Day draws near.

“It would change how people vote in Idaho, both in primary and general elections, and it would change how the ballot looks and the candidates who are on the ballot,” Kettler added. 

In Idaho, a ballot initiative is a form of direct democracy where the voters – not the Idaho Legislature – decide whether to pass a law. It takes a simple majority of votes – 50% plus one – to pass a ballot initiative.

Luke Mayville, a spokesperson for Idahoans for Open Primaries coalition, said Proposition 1 makes it so that all voters can vote in all elections.

“Prop 1 is simple. It’s about restoring the right of all voters, including independent voters, to participate in every Idaho election,” Mayville said Monday. “It’s not right that primary elections shut out over 270,000 independent voters. These are taxpayers, their tax dollars pay for primary elections and they should have the right to participate in those elections.”

Mayville is a co-founder of Reclaim Idaho, the group behind the successful 2018 Medicaid expansion ballot initiative that more than 60% of Idaho voters approved. Reclaim Idaho is also backing Proposition 1.

Idaho Gov. Brad Little, Republican-controlled Idaho Legislature oppose Prop 1

Gov. Brad Little and Idaho House Republicans have already come out publicly against Proposition 1. House Republicans passed a law banning ranked-choice voting in 2023 and drafted the official arguments against Proposition 1 that were published in the Idaho Voters Pamphlet.

“I am opposed to ranked choice voting and signed House Bill 179 in 2023 banning it in Idaho,” Little wrote Sept. 27. “We must promote voting practices that are clear, increase voter participation, and don’t undermine confidence in our elections, and ranked choice voting meets none of those standards. Idahoans will make their voices heard on Proposition 1 at the ballot box in November. As for me, I will not be supporting Proposition 1.”

In their official argument against Proposition 1, House Republicans wrote that the initiative would fundamentally change the system voters have used to elect policymakers since Idaho became a state in 1890.

“In summary, ranked-choice voting would impede voters’ ability to simply choose the person that best represents their views in a single primary race,” Republicans wrote in the official Idaho Voters Pamphlet. “Ranked-choice voting is a complicated, ineffective and costly idea that would create more problems than it proposes to solve.”

Idaho Legislature could block or amend Proposition 1 even if voters approve it

If voters approve Proposition 1, the Idaho Legislature can still amend or repeal it, just like any other law in the state. Ballot initiatives do not become some sort of super law that cannot be repealed. Two influential Republican legislators – House Speaker Mike Moyle, R-Star, and Rep. Wendy Horman, R-Idaho Falls – told the Idaho Capital Sun they do foresee scenarios where the Idaho House of Representatives would amend or repeal Proposition 1 if voters approve it.

“The proponents keep selling it as open primaries, but that’s not what it is,” Moyle said in a Sept. 24 phone interview. “It’s top-four in the primary and then you end up with ranked-choice in the general where you sit around and have a computer tell you who the winner is.”

“If voters pass it and we have what’s happening now where people who signed the initiative say, ‘that’s not what they told me it did,’ if enough people have been misled, then I think that there would be an opportunity there to fix it,” Moyle added. “But I hope the voters do their research and kill this thing.”

Similar things have happened before in the Idaho Legislature. 

In 1994, Idaho voters approved a ballot initiative calling for term limits for elected officials, including Idaho legislators. But in 2002 the Idaho Legislature repealed the term limits law and even voted to override a gubernatorial veto to prevent term limits from taking effect.

Mayville, from Reclaim Idaho, said Proposition 1 supporters will launch a campaign to protect the will of voters if Proposition 1 passes. Mayville told the Sun the Idahoans for Open Primaries coalition will conduct public events and ensure every legislator hears directly from constituents who voted for the ballot initiative.

“Any attempt to repeal or water down a successful citizen initiative would be a betrayal of the will of voters,” Mayville said. “We are not surprised that there are elected officials and party insiders who are doing everything in their power to defeat Proposition 1. These are the same people who benefit from a broken system and have an interest in keeping it broken.”

Prop 1 supporters say initiative lets all voters have a say in Idaho elections

Despite opposition from Little and the Idaho Republican Party, not all Republicans oppose Proposition 1.

In September 2023, former Gov. Butch Otter, a Republican, publicly endorsed the ballot initiative and joined other prominent former GOP elected officials such as retired Idaho Supreme Court Chief Justice Jim Jones and former House Speaker Bruce Newcomb in supporting the initiative.

“The right to vote is one of the most precious rights that Americans have,” Otter said last year. “Every registered voter should have the right to weigh in on choosing our leaders. Independents, including a lot of military veterans, have been excluded from having their say because of the closed GOP primary.”

This week, the Idaho Education Association endorsed Proposition 1.

“Making primary elections more democratic will ensure the creation of public policy that better reflects Idahoans’ perspectives,” Idaho Education Association President Layne McInelly said in a written statement. “Approval of the ballot initiative ensures elected policymakers would be more accountable to all Idahoans — not just a single group. There’s little question that better education policy will be the result.”

How does Idaho’s Proposition 1 ballot initiative work?

It takes a simple majority of votes to approve the ballot initiative. If voters approve Proposition 1, it would make changes to primary elections and general elections in Idaho.

For primary elections, Proposition 1 would repeal Idaho’s closed party primary election law, House Bill 351, which the Idaho Legislature passed in 2011.

Under Idaho’s closed party primary election law, political parties do not have to let voters vote in their party’s primary election unless that voter is formally affiliated with that political party. The closed primary law also allows political parties to choose to open up their primary elections, but only the Idaho Democratic Party allowed outside voters to vote in its last primary elections. The Republican, Constitution Party and Libertarian primary elections were all closed, the Idaho Secretary of State’s Office said.

In Idaho, more than 275,000 of the state’s 1 million registered voters are not affiliated with a political party and are not allowed to vote in closed party primary elections.

Instead of a closed party primary, Proposition 1 would create a single, nonpartisan primary election that is open to all voters and all candidates, regardless of party affiliation. The four primary candidates who receive the most votes would all advance the general election, regardless of party affiliation. 

Proposition 1 would also create ranked-choice voting in the general election, which is sometimes called an instant runoff system. Under that system, voters would pick their favorite candidates and have the option of ranking the remaining candidates in order of preference – second choice, third and fourth. The candidate who receives the fewest votes is eliminated, and their voters are transferred to the voter’s next highest-ranked remaining active candidate. That process continues until there are two candidates remaining and the candidate with the most votes is elected the winner.

Under Proposition 1, ranking candidates is optional for voters. If voters do not want to rank all candidates, they can just vote for their favorite candidate and their ballot will still be counted.

In a July letter to legislative leaders, Idaho Secretary of State Phil McGrane said it could cost an estimated $25 million to $40 million to transition to ranked-choice voting if the state needs to replace all of its election tabulation equipment, the Sun previously reported. 

However, Mayville said there is low cost software available that has been certified to count ranked-choice ballots in other states including Utah and Idaho does not need to spend millions of dollars to replace its vote counting equipment.