Labrador challenges Open Primaries intiative

Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador is challenging the Open Primaries initiative in court.

The office on Wednesday filed a petition to the state Supreme Court arguing the initiative, which garnered enough signatures to qualify for the November ballot , does not meet the constitutional single-subject requirement.

Labrador also argues that the election system proposed in the initiative should not be called “an open primary” and that by marketing it as such, it was misleading to those who signed the petition to get the initiative on the ballot.

“The so-called 'Open Primary Initiative' has nothing to do with open primaries, and thousands of Idahoans were misled into signing the petition by signature collectors who misrepresented the initiative,” Labrador said in an emailed statement. “... The sponsors also buried ranked-choice voting in the initiative and again misrepresented the initiative to voters. Idaho law does not allow such abuse of the initiative process. It is unacceptable and jeopardizes the integrity of the Court’s prior ruling and the initiative process itself.”

The initiative would create a top-four primary, open to voters of any political party, which would send the top four vote-getters to the general election.

Voters could then choose the winner in a general election with instant runoff voting, also known as ranked-choice voting, which allows voters to select a top candidate and rank additional candidates in order of preference.

After the first choices of all ballots are counted, the candidate with the fewest votes will be eliminated. Votes for the eliminated candidate will be counted toward the voters’ next choice — this process repeats until two candidates remain and the one with the most votes will win.

Luke Mayville, a spokesperson for Idahoans for Open Primaries, told the Idaho Press that the group is confident the initiative would withstand a legal challenge.

"We see this lawsuit as a political stunt and we don't believe it will be taken seriously by the court," Mayville said Thursday. "Instead of letting the voters decide, the AG is trying to interfere in the election and deny voters a voice."

In court filings, the attorney general's office cites a prior Idaho Supreme Court decision on the ballot titles that the attorney general had assigned to the initiative. The court ruled in favor of Idahoans for Open Primaries, but wrote that "open primaries" may not be the most accurate description of the proposed election system, the Idaho Capital Sun reported.

“It appears the most accurate description for the type of primary proposed in the Initiative is a ‘top four primary,’” Justice Colleen Zahn wrote in the opinion.

The court filings cite the supporters' website and volunteer training, arguing that it emphasized "open primaries," and downplayed the ranked-choice voting aspect of the proposal. Attorneys also argue that the supporters indicated the system proposed would be similar to the open primary system that Idaho had before 2011, despite differences in the voting mechanisms.

"The signatures that the coalition obtained in support of its initiative petition are invalid due to these false representations," the filing said. "Without these signatures, the initiative does not qualify to appear on the ballot in the general election."

Mayville said that Labrador's claims in the filing are "baseless."

"Frankly, it's an insult to the thousands of ordinary people who volunteered their time to get this initiative on the ballot," he said. "Over the past year, volunteers spent countless hours explaining the details of this initiative to their friends and neighbors."

Mayville said these explanations have included details about ranked-choice voting. He said the organization held town halls and other in-person gatherings in every region that explained ranked-choice voting.

He also said that the term "open primary" is a broad category that includes the system the group is supporting.

The initiative has faced deep opposition and harsh criticism from many in the Idaho GOP, arguing it's too complicated and that political parties should be in control of their own primary contests.

Labrador’s filing asks the court to order the secretary of state to reject the initiative and prohibit it from showing up on the November ballot.