BOISE, Idaho — With four different elections happening over the next year in Idaho, there has been some confusion around the rules and deadlines for voters. At issue is the difference between the state-run Primary Election on May 21, 2024 and the party-run presidential Caucus elections on March 2, 2024, Republican, and May 23, 2024, Democratic.
According to Secretary of State Phil McGrane, "The caucuses are run by the political parties. They're not run by the state. And so each of the political parties is allowed to adopt its own rules." This means the parties can set their own regulations for participating in the caucuses. A major factor is voter affiliation.
The Idaho Republican Party has stated that the deadline to register as a Republican to participate in their March caucus is December 31, 2023. This surprised some voters who thought the March 15, 2024 deadline to change party affiliation ahead of the Primary would also apply to the caucus. The distinction is state run election versus party run caucus elections.
"Those rules also must fit within their national parties. And I know as we watch the Democratic Party adjusting its rules, there's a decent chance they'll have different rules for the state primary than they have for their caucus," McGrane said. "Similar to how the Republican Party is already adopting new rules for their caucus that are different than what we'll be running for the state primary."
McGrane clarified the March 15 deadline only applies to the state-run May Primary. "That March 15th deadline will be for all voters who are going to participate in those legislative races and a lot of the local stuff that happens here in the state of Idaho," he said.
This confusion mostly impacts the relatively small number of unaffiliated Idaho voters, McGrane said. "The vast majority of Idahoans are already affiliated with a political party. And so the only people that this actually impacts are people who are existing party members who want to change party affiliation."
McGrane reported on Monday that 70% of voters are affiliated in Idaho.
The Idaho GOP sent an email Friday and again Monday confirming the December 31st affiliation deadline for participating in their 2024 presidential caucus.
The Idaho Democrats are still working on their dates and deadlines, but are expected to publish them in the near future.
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