The Open Primaries Initiative is the voice of the citizens of Idaho and not a “malicious plot”

The Open Primaries initiative, which has been approved by the Secretary of State for the November ballot, is just the latest in a long and storied history of citizen advocacy in Idaho.

It is not a “malicious conspiracy,” as Dorothy Moon, chairwoman of the Idaho Republican Party, said.

In short, the Open Primaries Initiative asks voters to approve a new system of open primaries and a four-way ranked-choice general election. If a majority of voters approve, the initiative would open the primaries to all candidates, regardless of party affiliation or political affiliation.

This would abolish the closed Republican Party primaries that are so dear to right-wing extremists like Moon.

The four candidates with the most votes from the primaries would advance to the general election in November. This uses a “ranked choice” system in which voters rank their preferred candidates in order of preference. If no candidate receives a majority of the votes, the last-place candidate is eliminated and their votes go to their voters’ second candidate. This process is repeated until two candidates remain. The candidate with the most votes wins.

The initiative is worth debating and we will engage in that debate in the coming months leading up to the November elections.

In the meantime, however, we should recognize that Idaho has a rich tradition of citizen action and that the Open Primaries initiative represents a meaningful use of that power as intended by the framers of our Idaho Constitution.

“The people reserve to themselves the power of proposing laws, and of passing them at the ballot box, independent of the Legislature,” states Section 1 of Article III of the Constitution. “This power is called the Initiative, and legal voters may, under such conditions and in such manner as may be provided by acts of the Legislature, initiate any law they desire, and cause it to be submitted to the people for their approval or rejection at a general election.”

The same section also provides for a referendum, a vote of the people “to approve or reject at the ballot box any law or measure passed by the Legislature.”

Idaho Initiatives

In the past 88 years, only 30 initiatives have been put to a vote, and only half have been adopted.

You may not know it, but the first successful law passed by Idaho voters was the creation of the Idaho Fish and Game Commission – in 1938.

In 1974, Idaho’s Sunshine Law requiring disclosure of political funds and lobbying activities was passed by a citizen’s initiative. (It’s understandable why lawmakers would not pass something like this so quickly.)

The property tax exemption for homeowners, which is popular today, is also thanks to a citizens’ initiative that came into force in 1982.

The Idaho Lottery Commission was founded in 1986 on the initiative of an independent institute.

Most recently, in 2018, voters approved Medicaid expansion with 60% approval after several years of failure by Idaho’s Republican lawmakers to do so.

These days, getting an initiative on the ballot is no easy hurdle. Not by a long shot.

Idaho law requires organizers to collect signatures from 6% of Idaho’s registered voters in the last election, as well as 6% of registered voters in at least 18 of the state’s 35 precincts.

Organizers of the Open Primaries initiative collected more than 97,000 signatures, of which the number was whittled down to 75,000, which were verified by county clerks and certified by the Secretary of State’s office on Wednesday.

Referendums in Idaho

Since 1936, Idaho voters have put six such measures to the vote through a referendum.

In 1936, voters rejected a law that would have imposed a two percent sales tax.

Thirty years later, in 1966, they gave the green light to the introduction of a three percent value added tax.

In 2012, Idaho voters used a referendum to repeal the so-called “Luna Laws.” These laws were proposed by then-Secretary of Education Tom Luna to fund public education and were clearly met with rejection.

It is important to remember that just because the Open Primaries Initiative is on the ballot does not mean that it has passed and will soon become law in Idaho. It must now win a majority of the votes in all statewide elections on November 5th, because that is when all voices will be heard.

Imagine.

Initiatives often make it to the ballot when Idahoans who want to make our state a better place take action while lawmakers refuse to act.

And then an initiative gives voters the opportunity to make a decision.

Sounds like democracy to us.

No malicious plan.

The Statesman’s editorials are the unsigned opinions of the Idaho Statesman editorial board. The editorial board includes opinion editor Scott McIntosh, opinion writer Bryan Clark, staff writer Chadd Cripe, editorial writers Dana Oland and Jim Keyser, and community members Greg Lanting, Terri Schorzman and Garry Wenske.