OPEN PRIMARIES: Read initiative for yourself

Sometime soon, you may be asked to sign a ballot measure called the Open Primaries Initiative. If you want more freedom and better leadership in our state, you should sign it.

Too many of our elected officials are handpicked by far-right special interests, not by the voters they’re supposed to serve. The Open Primaries Initiative would change that by giving all voters — regardless of party affiliation — the right to participate in primary elections. This includes Idaho’s 270,000 independent voters who are currently blocked from voting in Idaho’s closed primaries.

The initiative would also establish an instant runoff in the general election to make sure that elected leaders represent a broad coalition of voters and not just a narrow faction.

In spite of what opponents claim, the initiative does not threaten the power of either political party. But it does threaten the power of special-interest groups. By opening the primaries, the initiative diminishes the ability of special interests to control our elections.

That’s why special-interest operatives like Brent Regan are doing their best to spread misinformation about the Open Primaries Initiative. Regan makes the ridiculous claim that the initiative would “outlaw” the Republican party, when the truth is that the initiative is endorsed by a long list of Republican community leaders. Regan persists in the lie that the initiative is driven by “out of state” interests, in spite of the fact that many of the campaign’s leaders — myself included — are North Idaho natives.

Read the initiative for yourself. Special interests have had far too much power for far too long. It’s time to open the primaries and give power back to the people of Idaho.

LUKE MAYVILLE

Sandpoint native

Co-founder of Reclaim Idaho