Members of Idahoans for Open Primaries submitted their signatures to the Idaho Secretary of State’s Office for final verification on Tuesday, with supporters feeling optimistic they would qualify their ballot initiative for the Nov. 5 general election.

In Idaho, ballot initiatives are a form of direct democracy where the people vote on whether or not to pass a law, independent of the Idaho Legislature.

If it qualifies for the ballot and is approved by a simple majority of voters, the ballot initiative would end Idaho’s closed primary elections and create a ranked-choice voting system for the general election.

Taylor Jenkins, an independent voter who lives in Nampa, spoke in favor of the initiative on the steps of the Idaho State Capitol in Boise.

Jenkins is one of 250,000 independent voters in Idaho. Under a 2011 state law, political parties do not have to allow anyone who is not formally affiliated with their party to vote in their primary elections. Jenkins said he chose to remain independent politically because no party aligned with his exact views.

“I know I am not alone when I say that I felt excluded by our current closed primary system,” Jenkins said.

Jenkins said the closed primary elections frustrate him because the Republican Party enjoys a  supermajority and many elections are effectively decided in the primary election before the general election.

“I feel forced to register with a party I don’t entirely believe in just so that I can have a voice,” Jenkins said. “(But) the open primaries have given me hope. This reform promises a future where Idahoans, regardless of political affiliation, have the freedom to vote in all elections without being forced to pick a party to participate in taxpayer-funded elections.”

Open primaries supporters have been gathering signatures across the state since last year

Supporters have been gathering signatures in neighborhoods and at public events across the state since last year trying to qualify the initiative for this year’s general election. To qualify for the November election, supporters must gather signatures from at least 6% of registered voters statewide and from at least 6% of voters in at least 18 of the state’s legislative districts. To meet the statewide total, open primary supporters need about 63,000 signatures in total.

Open primary supporters have already completed one round of signature verification. In a phone interview Monday, Reclaim Idaho co-founder Luke Mayville said county clerks across the state have validated enough signatures to exceed both requirements. Reclaim Idaho, which is part of the open primaries coalition, is the same group behind the successful 2018 Medicaid expansion ballot initiative, which more than 60% of Idaho voters approved.

Mayville told the Sun that during the first round of signature verification this spring that counties verified nearly 75,000 signatures and verified enough signatures to qualify in 20 legislative districts, not just 18.

“All across the state, supporters are fired up about the opportunity to turn in these signatures and move on to the next phase,” Mayville told the Sun. “This is a celebration of how far we have come, and it also a launch of the next phase of the campaign, which is all about making sure that everyone in Idaho knows about the opportunity to allow all voters to participate in primary elections.”

Mayville told the Sun he expects the final signature review period to take about a week or two. Once that final review is complete, supporters will learn if the ballot initiative is officially certified for the Nov. 5 general election. If it is certified, Mayville said the open primary initiative will be called Proposition 1 on the ballots.

Supporters collected signatures from the county clerks and submitted them for the final round of verification Tuesday at the Idaho Secretary of State’s Office at the Idaho State Capitol in Boise. More than 200 open primary supporters gathered on the steps of the Capitol at the event and formed a line that stretched inside. As they chanted “Vote yes on open primaries; vote yes on 1!” supporters passed boxes of signatures from each Idaho county down the line from the Capitol steps, up to the Idaho Secretary of State’s Office.

The Idahoans for Open Primaries coalition includes Reclaim Idaho, Mormon Women for Ethical Government, Veterans for Idaho Voters, Republicans for Open Primaries and thousands of volunteers.

The Idaho Republican Party is officially against the initiative.

How does the open primary ballot initiative work?

The initiative seeks to end the closed primary election law that allows political parties to keep independents and other voters from voting in their primary elections. The law also allows parties to choose to open their primary election to other voters if they notify the Idaho Secretary of State’s Office, but only the Democratic Party has opened its primary election. The Republican, Constitution Party and Libertarian primary elections were all closed, the Idaho Secretary of State’s Office has previously said.

Instead of closed primaries, the initiative would create a single open primary election that all candidates and all voters would participate in. Under that open primary system, the four candidates that receive the most votes would all advance to the general election, regardless of party affiliation.

The ballot initiative would also change Idaho’s general elections by implementing a ranked-choice voting system that is sometimes referred to as an instant runoff. Under that system, voters would pick their favorite candidate and have the option of ranking the remaining candidates in order of preference – second, third and fourth. The candidate with the fewest votes would be eliminated, and their votes would instead be transferred to the second choice candidate on those voters’ ballots. That process would continue until there are two candidates, and the candidate receiving the most votes would be elected the winner. Under that system, voters would only vote once.

Idaho Republican Party stands in opposition to ranked choice voting

The Idaho Republican Party came out in opposition to ranked-choice voting during the secretive Idaho Republican State Convention last month in Coeur d’Alene. Meeting behind closed doors, delegates updated the Idaho Republican Party’s platform to specifically oppose ranked choice voting. The platform reads: “The Idaho Republican Party opposes ranked-choice voting and any other iterations of ranked-choice voting such as STAR voting, ballot exhaustion and instant runoff.”

Efforts to reach Idaho Republican Party Chairwoman Dorothy Moon on Monday were unsuccessful.

However, during a June 13 interview outside the Idaho Republican State Convention, Moon told the Sun she opposes the ballot initiative and ranked-choice voting.

“When (Republicans) ask me about ranked-choice voting, it’s bad,” Moon told the Sun. “It will destroy our conservative Republican state. So if we want this to become a California – another Democrat state – pass ranked-choice voting. It’s a Democrat voting scheme that’s been implemented lastly in Alaska.”

Moon told the Sun ranked-choice voting is confusing and complicated.

“We have got a lot of boots on the ground ready to start fighting this issue,” Moon said. “You’ve got to vote for people you don’t even like and then you also have a system that is very confusing, especially for people who are used to voting for one person for one position and all of a sudden you are voting for multiple.”

Even though the Idaho Republican Party voted to oppose ranked-choice voting in the party platform, not all Republicans oppose the initiative. Former Gov. Butch Otter, former Speaker of the Idaho House Bruce Newcomb and more than 100 Republican former office holders and voters have endorsed the ballot initiative.

Hyrum Erickson, a Republican precinct committeeman from Rexburg, also supports the open primary ballot initiative. Erickson spoke and participated in Tuesday’s turn-in event in Boise, saying the closed primary elections are bad for voters and bad for the Idaho Republican Party alike.

“(The closed primary) incentivizes everybody to join the Republican Party, even if you don’t have any real affinity for the party itself or the policies” Erickson told the Sun. “It allows special interest groups and anybody that is looking for political power in Idaho to focus their money and their resources on just the slice of voters that vote in the Republican closed primary.”

Idaho Capital Sun is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Idaho Capital Sun maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Christina Lords for questions: [email protected]. Follow Idaho Capital Sun on Facebook and X.