EDITORIAL: Prop 1's win in court isn't end of game

It normally takes three strikes before you’re out.

The state’s top legal guardian managed it in two.

Attorney General Raul Labrador spent loads of taxpayer money against the taxpayers in the past month, trying to get Proposition 1 off the general election ballot. 

After he showed a far greater affinity for political points than legal ones — as well as a breathtaking misunderstanding of or disregard for other state officials’ jobs — the Idaho Supreme Court rejected his arguments Aug. 13 and slapped his hand in the process.

Undaunted, Labrador tried again. And failed again.

In dismissing the AG’s request last Thursday for summary judgment to kill the ballot initiative, District Court Judge Patrick J. Miller scolded Labrador like he might a first-year law school student, noting Labrador’s “principal argument is not well taken for numerous reasons.” 

Judge Miller then spelled out those reasons clearly, and you could almost hear the scorn in his honor’s judgment. Yet Labrador can make a modest argument that he didn’t lose completely. 

He likely succeeded in planting seeds of doubt about the proposition among voters who assume the attorney general would never put politics ahead of his ethical legal duties. 

The good news is this: Idahoans will be able to decide Nov. 5 whether primary elections should be open to all registered voters regardless of party affiliation or non-affiliation.

Further, if the measure passes with a simple majority, voters in future general elections can still vote for just one person in each race. However, Prop 1 would empower voters to rank three more candidates in each race if they so choose.

It’s that system of ranking that terrifies Labrador and other current power holders. Ranked choice voting tends to reward candidates who appeal to a broader base of the population. It’s the extremists on both ends of the political spectrum who are at greatest risk.

So that’s the good news. There is, however, bad news, too.

Having tried unsuccessfully to legislate citizen-led initiatives into oblivion for several years now, then attempting this year’s failed judicial assault against Prop 1, those in power will throw everything they’ve got next legislative session into killing the initiative process forever.

Then one strike and the game could be over for all non-extremist citizens of Idaho.