Spending for and against Idaho’s Prop 1 nears $1M. Here’s where the money’s coming from

BOISE (Idaho Statesman) — Perhaps the most consequential question Idaho voters will answer this election has two straightforward choices: ‘Yes’ or ‘No.’

Proposition 1, a ballot measure to end the Republican Party’s closed primary and institute ranked choice voting in general elections, would spell big changes for the state’s elections. Whether that’s good or bad depends on who you ask.

Proponents say it will lead to more representative government, and to candidates with broader appeal winning races. Opponents say it will confuse voters or reduce the power Republicans have over Idaho politics.

Here are the structural changes it would make: For primaries, everyone would vote in one primary that includes all candidates regardless of party; the top four would advance, even if more than one are from the same party. In the general election, voters could rank the four candidates, with their second and third choices becoming important if any of their preferred picks are eliminated for insufficient votes.

At least $800,000 has been spent in Idaho’s Proposition 1 debate, with a week remaining before the November election, and both sides have more in their coffers.

Roughly half — $384,225 — of those funds have been spent by the group that organized the ballot measure, Idahoans for Open Primaries.

Proposition 1 organizers pull in $5.5 million

Facing stiff opposition from nearly all current Republican officials, the group has amassed a war chest of $5.5 million, according to data from the Idaho Secretary of State’s Office.

Much of that money has come from huge donations this month, including over $3 million from national political action committees like Unite America PAC and a related group ($1.8 million), Article IV ($2.2 million), and Way Back PAC ($250,000). Unite America PAC is a spending group that advocates for election reforms; its major donors this year include philanthropist Kathryn Murdoch; Arthur Blank, businessman and owner of the Atlanta Falcons; Marc Merrill, a video game inventor; and David Randolph Peeler, a private equity investor in Massachusetts, according to government transparency nonprofit OpenSecrets. Article IV, which also focuses on election reforms, has received funding from the Hopewell Fund, a major left-leaning philanthropic outfit. The Way Back PAC is a Wyoming-based group that pushes to elect left-leaning candidates across the Mountain West.

“Donations from non-partisan organizations will help amplify the voices of Idahoans and ultimately give power back to Idaho voters,” said Sophie Sestero, a spokesperson for Idahoans for Open Primaries.

In an email, Unite America’s spokesperson Ross Sherman said the group didn’t build the “grassroots” movement to reform Idaho elections. “We saw their unprecedented citizen-led campaign for election reform and invested in their vision of building a coalition of everyday folks who want a say in every taxpayer-funded election,” he said.

Idahoans for Open Primaries has also received large donations from residents: $100,000 from developer Ronald Nahas of Eagle; $100,250 from Zeke and AnnMarie Johnson, of Boise, and $75,000 from the Bill Parks Charitable Foundation, an entity founded by the founder of the Moscow-based rafting gear company, NRS. Kenny Van Zandt, of Ketchum, donated $100,000.

Zeke Johnson is president of the RSCI construction firm. AnnMarie Johnson told the Statesman that the donations are the first political campaign the couple has gotten involved in.

“This feels like one of the most important reform measures that could happen in Idaho,” she said, because she thinks it will give more power to voters and lead to winning candidates “who embody integrity and can win elections with civility, not name calling and fear mongering.”

While some leaders in both parties reflect those values now, she said they “are not the majority and their seats are constantly and easily threatened due to our closed primary system.”

Reclaim Idaho, the grassroots group run by Luke Mayville, who is also the spokesperson for Idahoans for Open Primaries, gave $160,000 to the open primaries group in September.

Sestero told the Statesman by email that the group is using its funds to “expand our education campaign, making sure we reach Idahoans in every part of the state on their doorsteps, in their mailboxes, and on their living room screens.”

Another pro-Prop 1 outfit, Veterans for Idaho Voters, which is run by Rep. Todd Achilles, has received more than $109,000 in donations ($100,000 from a large donation by the Unite America PAC), and has run Facebook ads in support of the initiative.

Spokesperson Patrick Riceci said by email that many veterans are independent voters, and that the group believes “it is fundamentally unfair to those veterans who served our country, as well as the additional independent voters who total approximately 270,000 statewide to be shut out of Idaho’s closed primaries, which, after all, take place at taxpayer expense.”

He added he thinks ranked choice voting will ensure officials “represent a broader cross section of the community than they now do.”

Republican officials try to quash ballot reform

Though Proposition 1’s supporters include former high-ranking Republican officials like former Gov. Butch Otter, former House Speaker Bruce Newcomb and former Attorney General Jim Jones, today’s Republican officials have lined up in opposition to it. The Idaho Democratic Party has not taken a public stance.

GOP Chair Dorothy Moon has written numerous news releases opposing the measure. More than three dozen Republican officials — as well as other Republican candidates for office — have released YouTube videos saying they reject the measure. Gov. Brad Little has said he opposes it.

Idaho Rising, a PAC run by House Speaker Mike Moyle, R-Star, spent $30,000 this month on TV ads against the measure. Moyle’s group has spent a total of more than $283,000, and received $50,000 from pharmaceutical and agrochemical company Bayer and $100,000 from Melaleuca, a wellness company based in Idaho Falls. Melaleuca has spent close to $457,000 opposing the measure, according to the company’s president, conservative billionaire Frank Vandersloot.

Vandersloot told the Statesman by phone that he thinks the proposed reforms could lead to “bizarre” outcomes and is a “con job.”

“They want us to send liberal candidates to Congress, that’s what the intent is,” he said.

Melaleuca’s PAC, called Republicans for Idaho, has spent close to $86,000 on billboards and other ads opposing the measure.

Rep. Josh Tanner, R-Eagle, created a group called One Person One Vote in July, shortly after Proposition 1 was approved for the ballot. The group, run by Moyle and Tanner, has raised almost $195,000, mostly from the wealthy Boise political donor Larry Williams, who gave $125,000, and a $50,000 donation from Rep. Jordan Redman, R-Coeur d’Alene. (Ten days after Williams gave $125,000, One Person One Vote gave the same amount to Idaho Rising.) The group has reported next to no expenditures, but shares its name with the YouTube channel that posted videos of dozens of Republican officials opposing the measure.

Moyle told the Statesman by phone that he is hoping to raise half a million dollars to oppose Proposition 1 by Election Day. He said Idaho Rising has focused on radio and television ads, while One Person One Vote has focused on digital ads.

“Send me a check, I’ll spend it,” he said of his efforts, noting that the proponents of the measure have raised most of their money from out of state and have launched TV ads. “They’re buying every damn ad.”

Idaho Freedom Action, the political spending wing of the Idaho Freedom Foundation, purchased at least $7,500 worth of Facebook ads opposing the ballot measure. The group has not filed spending reports with the Secretary of State.

One big spender is the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee, run by Brent Regan, who is also chair of the far-right Idaho Freedom Foundation. The county’s GOP has spent $44,000 opposing Proposition 1.

On Facebook, the Idaho GOP and the Twin Falls County Republicans have been running ads against Proposition 1.

The Magic Valley Liberty Alliance, a far-right activist group, has been advocating against the measure. Most of its funding comes from the national Washington, D.C.-based group, Young Americans for Liberty.