IDAHO, USA — After a brief legal battle over wording and open primaries between the Idaho Attorney General's Office and the coalition Idahoans for Open Primaries, Justice Colleen Zahn ruled Attorney General Raul Labrador's ballot titles for the coalitions initiative did not comply with Idaho code and must be re-written by Friday at 4 p.m.
The court wrote, "the short and general ballot titles failed to substantially comply with section 34-1809 in several respects," and ordered the AG to write new titles.
Idahoans for Open Primaries brought a lawsuit to the AG's office in early July. The suit claimed that titles the AG and Secretary of State Phil McGrane assigned in regard to proposed open primaries and a ranked-choice voting initiative were misleading and false. The AG and the Secretary are required to provide the titles.
The coalition argued that the AG and Secretary were bias and that, not only were the titles misleading to voters, but that it violated state law. The court agreed. The judge denied the coalition's request for a writ of mandamus to gain time to gather more signatures because they did not establish there was a legal obligation to extend the deadline.
Watch more Local News:
See the latest news from around the Treasure Valley and the Gem State in our YouTube playlist:
HERE ARE MORE WAYS TO GET NEWS FROM KTVB:
Download the KTVB News Mobile App
Apple iOS: Click here to download
Google Play: Click here to download
Watch news reports for FREE on YouTube: KTVB YouTube channel
Stream Live for FREE on ROKU: Add the channel from the ROKU store or by searching 'KTVB'.
Stream Live for FREE on FIRE TV: Search ‘KTVB’ and click ‘Get’ to download.