BOISE, Idaho — This article originally appeared in the Idaho Press.
A new coalition in Idaho on Tuesday morning filed a ballot initiative to make primary elections open and non-partisan.
Idahoans for Open Primaries includes organizations such as the Idaho Task Force of Veterans for Political Innovation, North Idaho Women, Represent US Idaho, the Hope Coalition and Reclaim Idaho, according to a press release.
The group's members are critical of the closed Republican primary, which requires voters to join the party to participate in the election. The coalition hopes to put the initiative on the November 2024 ballot.
“There are 200,000 voters in Idaho who are independent like me, and we’re blocked from voting in Idaho’s most important primary elections,” Debbie Reid-Oleson, a fourth-generation Idaho rancher from Blackfoot who added her name as one of the first 20 signers of the Open Primaries Initiative, said in the release. “It’s wrong that we’re forced to join a political party just to exercise our right to vote.”
The Open Primaries Initiative would create a “top four” primary election. All candidates participate in the same primary election and the top four candidates advance to the general election. Voters then choose the winner in a general election with instant runoff voting, which gives voters the freedom to pick their top candidate and then to rank additional candidates in order of preference.
The Legislature this year passed a bill that would ban ranked choice or instant runoff voting, and if passed, the initiative would include a provision to repeal this ban.
“This is a simple, common-sense reform that will give us better elections and better leadership,” former Republican Speaker of the House Bruce Newcomb, who added his name as one of the first 20 signers of the Open Primaries Initiative, said in the release.
Maine and Alaska hold statewide instant runoff elections.
The coalition this summer plans to hold signature drive kickoff events in every region of the state.
Tuesday morning it turned in its first 20 signatures and the full text of the proposal to Idaho Secretary of State Phil McGrane. McGrane and Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador must review the initiative before additional signatures may be collected.
To qualify for the November ballot, the coalition must collect signatures from 6% of all Idaho voters who were registered to vote in the last general election, or a total of 62,895 signatures, and it must include 6% of registered voters in 18 out of 35 legislative districts. These signatures must be collected by May 1, 2024.
This article originally appeared in the Idaho Press, read more on IdahoPress.com.
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