PROP 1: A bad bait and switch

Please join me in voting no on Proposition 1.

Prop 1 does two things. First, Prop 1 is promoted as opening Idaho’s primary elections to independent voters. A single-issue proposition could do that. 

However, Prop 1 has a second component. It implements ranked choice voting (RCV) in Idaho, which means the candidate with the most votes could lose. Why? 

Because RCV means a voter votes for more than one candidate for each office, ranking each in order of preference, vastly complicating the voting AND vote counting process. If a candidate does not gain a clear majority, then the lower “preferences” on each ballot are re-attributed to another candidate. Thus the most preferred candidate can lose, as occurred in Alaska’s Congressional election in 2022. 

In that election, there were four candidates. The most preferred candidate did not gain a clear majority. The second most preferred won the election because she is reported to have had more lesser (third and fourth) preferences than the actual winner. But who is to tell if vote manipulation occurred in the counting process? No one can tell because it is almost impossible to audit. 

Therefore, Idaho Prop 1 is a bad bait and switch, offering independents an open primary but imposing RCV which actually corrupts Idaho’s vote count.

Don’t replace Idaho’s sound election system with a trendy idea that opens the door to rigged elections.

Vote no on Prop 1.

STEVE McCOY

Post Falls