Attorney General Raúl Labrador filed a petition today with the Idaho Supreme Court challenging the ballot initiative misleadingly promoted as the “Open Primary Initiative.”
The petition for a writ of prohibition or writ of mandate highlights two key flaws with the initiative.
According to Labrador, despite a clear prior ruling from the Idaho Supreme Court stating that the initiative does not propose an “open primary,” Idahoans for Open Primaries systematically referred to it as such to gather the necessary signatures.
They repeatedly described the initiative as implementing “open primaries” through their websites, signage, social media, trainings, canvassing efforts, and public statements, even though the Idaho Supreme Court ruled last year that the initiative “does not describe an ‘open primary’ system.”
Secondly, the initiative introduces distinct changes to the primary election and the voting system used in general elections, violating the single-subject rule for legislation and initiatives. This initiative would eliminate party primaries and institute a complex multi-stage ranked-choice voting system for the general election, involving multiple ballot counts and vote shifting between candidates, which lacks basic transparency.
“The so-called ‘Open Primary Initiative’ has nothing to do with open primaries, and thousands of Idahoans were misled into signing the petition by signature collectors who misrepresented the initiative. Last year, the Idaho Supreme Court unambiguously ruled that the initiative does not propose an open primary system. The sponsors have not only ignored the Court’s direction, they have snubbed their nose at the Court’s ruling,” said Attorney General Labrador. “The sponsors also buried ranked-choice voting in the initiative and again misrepresented the initiative to voters. Idaho law does not allow such abuse of the initiative process. It is unacceptable and jeopardizes the integrity of the Court’s prior ruling and the initiative process itself.”
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As the petition explains, “An ‘open primary’ is what Idaho had before 2011,” but “[t]he initiative and the old system have essentially nothing in common.” Nevertheless, “the initiative’s sponsors disregarded the Court’s ruling and sold the initiative as ‘open primaries’ anyway. By doing so, they violated Idaho Code § 34-1815 and voided the signatures supporting their initiative.”
The petition requests that the Idaho Supreme Court order the Idaho Secretary of State to reject the initiative on these grounds and prevent the initiative from appearing on the November ballot.
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