The push to gather enough signatures to put an initiative on the November election ballot that would change the way Idaho’s elections work has 84,472 signatures as of April 16. Idahoans for Open Primaries believe that should be enough to qualify for the ballot.
“My gosh, it is so hard, it is so hard to get the number of signatures you need,” said Karole Honas, a volunteer in Blackfoot who helped gather 1,387 signatures. “You're knocking on doors, and you know what our spring weather's like. It's hard work!"
Gathering signatures
For an initiative to get on the ballot, organizers must gather signatures of 6% of the registered voters in at least 18 of the 35 districts in Idaho. They must also reach at least 6% of total registered voters in Idaho. The organizers say they must have 63,000 verified signatures for the initiative to get on the ballot. However, Honas says they believe about 20% of the signatures could be thrown out for various reasons.
Idahoans for Open Primaries is not alone in the signature effort. Veterans for Idaho Voters, Idaho Chapter of Mormon Women for Ethical Government, North Idaho Women, the Hope Coalition, Reclaim Idaho and Republicans for Open Primaries have all helped gather signatures.
Honas says the reason she joined the effort is because she remembers before the Idaho legislature voted to close primary elections, she was able to vote for a Republican or a Democrat in the primary.
“You might be a Republican but there was just this one guy running for a state office that's a Democrat, but he's your neighbor, you know him well and know him to be a good person and you'd like to vote for him,” Honas said. “Well, we did, in the old days, we voted for the person.”
How does it work?
If the initiative does get on the ballot and if it does pass, then Idaho’s party primary elections would change to a top-four primary election. The ballot could have any number of candidates on it. You still just vote for one candidate. The top four candidates, no matter what party affiliation they have, would move on to the general election.
In the general election, you would rank each candidate you want to vote for. When votes are tallied, the candidate with the least number of votes is eliminated in that round. If a voter’s top candidate is the one eliminated, that vote is transferred to the voter’s second-highest-ranking candidate. This happens until two candidates remain. The candidate with the most votes wins.
What do Republicans and Democrats think?
The Idaho GOP is against the initiative. Chairwoman Dorothy Moon calls it “A diabolical scheme … to confuse voters by ranking candidates.” The Idaho GOP has sent out flyers to tell voters to not sign the petition and are preparing more flyers if the initiative gets on the ballot.
“People do not like ranked-choice voting,” Moon said.
Moon says Republicans should be able to vote for their own candidates. She also worries the system is unreliable and would be impossible to audit.
If the initiative does pass, Honas says this could lead to more moderate candidates in elections and it would help Idaho have a balance between parties. Right now, the legislature has 87 Republicans and 18 Democrats.
Idaho House Minority Leader Ilana Rubel says she’s in favor of the change, even though it could end up hurting the Idaho Democratic party.
“I’m not sure it will actually help us, because in a lot of cases, Democrats actually win by having a more extreme Republican candidate on the ballot, and that actually drives folks to pick the Democrat instead,” Rubel said.
She likes the idea of having a more balanced legislature. There are currently 87 democrats running for election for the 105 seats in the legislature.
“So, if they won, or won any meaningful number, we could get closer to a balanced situation,” she said. “We would see a lot more focus, I think, on the fundamentals of governing and education and roads and health care and a lot less of the bills kind of going after the LGBTQ community and the librarians.”
To learn more about the initiative, check out the Idahoans for Open Primaries website. You can also read the full document filed with the Secretary of State’s office.
*A previous version said you could vote for four candidates in the primary election but you can only vote for one.