Grassroots Group Pushing for Open Primaries in Idaho

BOISE, Idaho — A coalition of community groups and civic organizations filed a citizen ballot initiative this past week with the intention of giving state voters the chance to cast their ballots in open, nonpartisan primary elections.

The coalition, Idahoans for Open Primaries, is a coming together of several independent, free-standing groups, including the Idaho Task Force of Veterans for Political Innovation, North Idaho Women, Represent US Idaho, the Hope Coalition and Reclaim Idaho.

Leaders of the new group say they expect to grow even larger and more robust after they begin to hold signature-drive kickoff events in every region of the state this summer.

Behind their passion for the cause is a common conviction that Idaho’s closed Republican primary is a disservice to voters, and therefore, the state, because it prevents independent voters from participating in elections unless they join a political party.

On May 2 the coalition filed a ballot measure, The Open Primaries Initiative, that it hopes will qualify to appear on the November 2024 ballot.

It aims to replace Idaho’s closed primaries with an open primary election in which all Idaho voters could participate, regardless of party affiliation. 

“I’ve always thought of Idaho as a fiercely independent state,” said retired news anchor Karole Honas, who identifies as an independent and has signed up to collect signatures for the group. 

“I’m fed up with being forced to join a political party in order to vote in our state’s most important elections,” Honas said.

Debbie Reid-Oleson, a fourth-generation rancher from Blackfoot who added her name as one of the first 20 signers of the Open Primaries Initiative, said, “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. It’s wrong that we’re forced to join a political party just to exercise our right to vote.”

Bruce Newcomb, former Republican speaker of the House, was also among the first 20, calling the coalition’s goal “a simple, commonsense reform that will give us better elections and better leadership.”

Under the new primary format, the top four vote-getters from the primary would advance to the general election, regardless of party affiliation — similar to an initiative recently passed in Alaska.

The measure would also transform Idaho’s general elections to include an instant runoff, or ranked choice, voting system. 

Under that system, Idaho voters would vote for their first-choice candidate in the general election and have the ability to rank the three remaining candidates in order of preference. 

If no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote in the first-choice voting, the last-place finisher would be eliminated and their votes would instead be transferred to voters’ second-choice candidate on each of those ballots, with the process continuing until one candidate receives more than 50% of the votes and is the winner. 

The Republican-controlled Idaho legislature passed House Bill 351 in 2011, effectively closing Idaho’s primary elections, though the law did give political parties the ability to keep their primaries open to all voters, regardless of party affiliation. 

The Idaho Democrats chose to keep their primaries open, but by last year, they were the only party to do so, as both the states’ Libertarian and Constitution parties chose to hold closed primaries in 2022.

“Our current primary system incentivizes candidates to demonize people who disagree with them rather than focus on solving problems,” said Hyrum Erickson, a Republican Precinct committeeman in Rexburg who is collecting signatures for the Open Primaries Initiative. “We can do better.”

Currently, 63 states and municipalities in the United States conduct instant runoff elections. Two states (Maine and Alaska) hold statewide instant runoff elections, and six states (Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, South Carolina and Georgia) use instant runoff voting for military and overseas voters.

In order to qualify for the November 2024 ballot, the Idahoans for Open Primaries must collect valid signatures from 6% of all Idaho voters who were registered at the last general election, which is 62,895 signatures statewide. 

Coalition members must also collect signatures from 6% of registered voters in each of 18 legislative districts. The campaign must meet these signature requirements by May 1, 2024. 

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