Idaho voters reject Prop 1, the open primaries and ranked-choice voting ballot initiative

BOISE (Idaho Capital Sun) — In one of the most closely watched elections in Idaho, the Proposition 1 ballot initiative that sought to end closed party primary elections and bring ranked-choice voting to general elections, was defeated, according to unofficial election results released Tuesday night by the Idaho Secretary of State’s Office.

The Associated Press called the race at 12:45 a.m. Wednesday.

According to results released at 2:15 a.m. Wednesday by the Idaho Secretary of State’s Office, 69.6% of Idaho voters voted against Proposition 1, while 30.4% of voters voted for it, with 33 of Idaho’s 44 counties fully reporting. Incomplete election results show 537,553 voters voted against Proposition 1, while 234,407 voters voted in favor of it.

“We’re looking to have some big wins tonight and defeat Prop 1 big time,” Idaho Republican Party Chairwoman Dorothy Moon said to a round of applause at the Idaho GOP election night watch party Tuesday night in Meridian.

Proposition 1 required a simple majority of votes to be approved.

Proposition 1 supporters issued a news release at 11:30 p.m. Tuesday conceding the initiative did not have the votes to pass.

“We are full of pride that we dared to take on the biggest structural problem facing Idaho: the closed primaries,” Luke Mayville, Idahoans for Open Primaries spokesperson, said in a written statement. “It’s never easy to reform a broken system. But one thing is clear to us after talking with hundreds of thousands of voters: Even if Idahoans didn’t support our specific proposal, the vast majority believe the closed primary system is broken. It’s only a matter of time before Idahoans demand reform.”

Election results do not become official in Idaho until they are certified by the Idaho State Board of Canvassers, which will happen Nov. 26 at the Idaho Statehouse in Boise.

“We are all hoping that Proposition 1 goes down,” Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador said Tuesday night at the Idaho GOP election party.

Before the election, the Idaho Republican Party, Republicans in the Idaho House of Representatives and Gov. Brad Little came out in opposition to Proposition 1. The Idaho Education Association, former Republican Gov. Butch Otter, the Idahoans for Open Primaries coalition that includes Reclaim Idaho and the Idaho chapter of Mormon Women for Ethical Government and a group of about 50 former Republican elected officials came out in support of Proposition 1.

How does Idaho’s Proposition 1 work?

In Idaho a ballot initiative is a form of direct democracy where the voters — not the Idaho Legislature – decide whether to pass a law. If it would have passed, Proposition 1 would have changed primary elections and general elections in Idaho. Proposition 1 would have repealed Idaho’s closed party primary law, House Bill 351, which the Idaho Legislature passed in 2011. Under the 2011 closed primary law, political parties do not have to let voters vote in their primary election unless they are affiliated with that political party.

In Idaho, more than 275,000 of the state’s 1 million registered voters are unaffiliated voters who are not allowed to vote in closed party primary elections, such as the Republican, Libertarian or Constitution Party primary elections.

Only the Idaho Democratic Party allowed outside voters to vote in its primary elections, the Idaho Secretary of State’s Office said.

Instead of closed party primary elections, Proposition 1 called for a single, nonpartisan primary election that is open to all voters and all political candidates, regardless of party affiliation. The four primary election candidates who received the most votes all advance to the general election, regardless of party affiliation. That would have meant that there could be multiple candidates from the same political party — or even races with candidates all from the same political party — in the general election.

For the general election, Proposition 1 would have created a system of ranked-choice voting, which is sometimes called an instant runoff system, in the general election. Under that system, voters pick their favorite candidate and then have the option to rank the remaining candidates in order of preference — second choice, third and fourth. Voters are not required to rank all candidates if they don’t want to. Voters’ ballots will still be counted even if they don’t rank the candidates.

To count the results in the general election, the candidate with the fewest votes would have been eliminated and their votes would have transferred to the next-highest-ranked active candidate on ballots where other candidates were ranked. That process would have continued until there were two candidates remaining and the candidate with the most votes would be elected the winner.

Even if Idaho voters approved Prop 1, the Idaho Legislature could have still blocked it or changed it

Even if voters had approved Proposition 1, the Idaho Legislature could have still amended or repealed it, just like any other state law. In the lead up to the election, two prominent members of the Idaho House of Representatives, House Speaker Mike Moyle, R-Star, and Rep. Wendy Horman, R-Idaho Falls, told the Idaho Capital Sun that they did foresee scenarios where Republicans in the Idaho House would amend or repeal Proposition 1, even if voters approve it.

The 2025 Idaho legislative session is scheduled to convene Jan. 6, less than nine weeks away.