Open primaries initiative will be on November ballot, judge rules

An initiative that would open Idaho’s primary elections to all voters and implement ranked choice voting for general elections will appear on the November ballot, a judge ruled Thursday.  

Fourth Judicial District Judge Patrick Miller dismissed the latest lawsuit brought by Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador, who had sued to stop the initiative from going before voters.  

The initiative has gathered enough valid signatures to qualify for the Nov. 5 general election, but Labrador argued that the “open primaries” title is deceptive because it suggests to voters that the ballot measure would restore the open partisan primaries that Idaho had prior to 2011, rather than creating an open primary and establishing a ranked choice voting system for general elections. 

Initiative organizers denied the allegations. The court ruled in their favor. 

“The evidence the attorney general submits actually negates the idea that the defendants perpetrated false statements to thousands of persons who actually signed a petition,” Miller’s ruling said in part. “The public presentations in the record thoroughly discuss both the top four and ranked-choice components of the initiative.” 

Organizers said the ruling is a “significant win” for Idaho voters and the thousands of Idahoans who signed the open primaries petition.  

“AG Labrador has tried at every turn to suppress the voices of Idahoans and disrupt the ballot initiative process,” Luke Mayville, spokesperson for Idahoans for Open Primaries, said in a news release Thursday morning. “But today, the people of Idaho prevail.” 

Labrador’s office described the ruling as “disappointing” and maintained a belief that the initiative’s title is misleading. 

“Unfortunately, nothing will stop initiative sponsors from obtaining signatures through misrepresentation in the future,” Labrador’s office said in a statement released Thursday. “At least, our legal challenge has raised awareness about the true nature of the initiative.” 

The ballot measure will need a simple majority to pass in November. It proposes two changes to elections for most public offices.  

First, the measure would abolish Idaho’s party primaries and instead create a system where all candidates participate in the same primary election and voters may vote on all candidates. The top four vote-earners for each office would advance to the general election, regardless of party affiliation. The measure would also create an instant runoff or ranked choice voting system for the general election.   

In that system, voters choose their favorite candidate and may then rank up to three other candidates in order of preference. Voters are not required to rank more than one candidate. 

If a candidate gets more than 50% of the vote after the first-choice rankings are counted, that candidate is declared the winner. 

However, if no candidate gets more than 50% of the vote, then the candidate who received the fewest votes is eliminated and each vote for that candidate is redirected to the voter’s second choice. This process would repeat until one candidate receives at least 50% of the vote.