Closed primary moves closer
COEUR d'ALENE - Idaho Republican leaders are close to inking a deal that would limit GOP primary elections to only the party's registered voters.
The proposal comes weeks after a federal judge ruled that Idaho's 38-year-old open primary system was unconstitutional.
That ruling was appealed by a national Independent voting organization on Wednesday, but legislators could be ready to spring a bill that would require Republicans to vote in GOP primary races, while Democrats would vote in Democratic primary races.
"We are very close," said House Speaker Lawerence Denney, R-Midvale.
He said a bill could be introduced by Friday.
Conservatives have long suspected cross-over voting - allowed since 1972 - has produced GOP candidates who fail to hew closely enough to the party line. The party challenged the open primary system in court, and on March 2 U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill agreed, tossing the process out.
The ruling stated the right to free association was also founded on the right not to be required to associate with certain groups.
"We've got a lot of folks who are 'Republican legislators' who are not as conservative as the Republican party would like them to be," said Cornel Rasor, chairman of Bonner County's Central GOP Committee.
On Wednesday, the New York-based Committee for a United Independent Party appealed the decision. The group says closing the primary cuts out Independent voters, roughly how a third of Idaho's population identifies itself. Seventeen other states use open primaries.
Idaho state Rep. Marge Chadderdon, R-Coeur d'Alene, said she favored an open primary election because of that reason.
"I was always in favor of that," she said, of the open process. "You can't start disenfranchising the independent voter, who are over a third of the state. You certainly need that vote to win."
There are 740,000 registered voters in Idaho.
So far under the proposal, party leaders -likely the parties' central committees - could allow unaffiliated voters to participate, with their ballot choice becoming a public record.
Voters could also choose to register as members of the Libertarian and Constitution parties.
Some details still need to be worked out, including deciding just how long a voter who previously registered a party affiliation would have to switch sides before a primary election.
Some in the state GOP have suggested two months, others as long as 180 days.
The Senate's GOP members met privately this week on the plan.
The Democratic Party chided the proposal, but said it could help win support for Democratic candidates who appeal to a broader spectrum of voters.
"I think the Republicans are going to get purer in their bloodlines, and hopefully it'll end up making them more conservative," said Larry Grant, Idaho Democratic Party chairman. "We're happy to have everyone they've kicked out come and vote in ours."
Also under the GOP plan now being drafted, Republican and Democratic voters would register their affiliation in the first primary in which they voted.
Parties could also conduct registration drives, to rustle up supporters for their side.
Secretary of State Ben Ysursa's office unsuccessfully defended Idaho's open primary in federal court. One of its biggest concerns now is ensuring the new system includes an orderly process for Idaho's registered voters to choose a partisan side.
There is no formal party registration in Idaho now, and Tim Hurst, Ysursa's top deputy, is wary of voters who could take out their frustrations about having to register for a party for the first time on volunteer poll workers come Election Day.
"It needs to be as seamless as possible," Hurst said. "If somebody is upset about this, they're going to take it out on poll workers, not on the party officers and not on us."