Idaho AG Labrador sues to block Idahoans for Open Primaries initiative

Supporters of the Idaho open primary initiative submitted signatures in support of the ballot initiative to the Idaho Secretary of State’s Office on Tuesday, July 2, 2024. (Kyle Pfannenstiel/Idaho Capital Sun)

Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador is suing to block the Idahoans for Open Primaries initiative, a ballot initiative that would open Idaho’s primary elections and revamp how Idahoans cast votes in the state’s primary and general elections.

Labrador’s lawsuit alleges the initiative — which has enough signatures to be on the Nov. 5 election ballot , according to the Idaho Secretary of State’s Office —  was deceptively pitched as an open primary initiative and violates the Idaho Constitution’s requirement that laws address a single subject.

Labrador’s lawsuit asks the Idaho Supreme Court to, in effect, block the initiative from the November ballot by either blocking Idaho Secretary of State Phil McGrane from including the ballot title on November ballots, or ordering McGrane to invalidate signatures in support of the initiative.

The Idaho Secretary of State must submit the ballot title to county election officials by Sept. 7, according to the lawsuit.

“We feel that the Supreme Court will look at this very seriously, and we’re hoping that they agree,” Labrador told reporters Wednesday.

Idahoans for Open Primaries campaign spokesperson Luke Mayville, in an interview with the Sun, called the lawsuit a “political stunt” and said he was confident the court would dismiss it.

“The attorney general is attempting to block our initiative because he’s afraid that the vast majority of Idahoans will vote for it. He knows he can’t persuade the voters, so he’s trying to prevent them from having a say,” Mayville told the Sun.

Mayville said the initiative is constitutional, and a ballot initiative can “contain multiple policies without violating the single subject rule.” He said “every aspect” of the open primaries initiative “deals with the single subject of elections.”

How would the ballot initiative change Idaho elections?

In Idaho, ballot initiatives are a form of direct democracy where the people vote on passing a law, independent of the Idaho Legislature.

The initiative seeks to end the closed primary election law that allows political parties to keep independents and other voters from voting in their primary elections.

Move to ranked-choice voting could cost at least $25M to $40M, Idaho’s top election official says

Instead of closed primaries, the initiative would create a single open primary election that all candidates and all voters would participate in. Under that open primary system, the four candidates that receive the most votes would all advance to the general election, regardless of party affiliation.

The ballot initiative would also change Idaho’s general elections by implementing a ranked-choice voting system that is sometimes referred to as an instant runoff.

A frequently-asked-questions webpage on the Idahoans for Open Primaries website says a top four primary election would make the general election “the most significant election.”

“It gives general-election voters more choice and more power to determine the winner. As a result, elected officials will be incentivized to listen and respond to a much broader set of voters,” the webpage says.

The Idaho Republican Party is officially against the initiative.

What the Attorney General’s Office alleges, and how initiative organizers respond

The lawsuit says supporters have “deliberately and systematically” promoted the initiative as an open primary implementation since an Idaho Supreme Court ruling, including in signature gathering interactions. Several voters who signed the petition, the lawsuit alleges, have since regretted “when they discovered the true effect of the initiative.”

“(T)he Court held that ‘the initiative does not describe an ‘open primary’ system because it does not propose retaining the separate, party-run system currently in place,’” the lawsuit says. “It further explained that ‘’open primary’ means something significantly different than what is proposed by the initiative.’”

In an August 2023 ruling against ballot titles for the initiative written by Labrador’s office , the Idaho Supreme Court said the most accurate term for the initiative proposed primary system “is a top four primary.” The Attorney General’s Office soon released new ballot language referencing a “top-four primary.”

But Mayville said the Idaho Supreme Court “never weighed in on how our campaign should describe it.”

“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 a news release . “… 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.”

Mayville called Labrador’s claim “baseless,” and said volunteers “spent countless hours discussing every aspect of this initiative.”

“It’s insulting to the thousands of ordinary people all across Idaho who volunteered their time to discuss this initiative with their neighbors and collect signatures,” Mayville said.

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What is the Idahoans for Open Primary initiative?

The Idaho Secretary of State’s Office announced two weeks ago that the initiative has enough signatures to appear on the Nov. 5 general election ballot.

The Idahoans for Open Primaries coalition includes Reclaim Idaho, Mormon Women for Ethical Government, Veterans for Idaho Voters, Republicans for Open Primaries and thousands of volunteers.

Under a 2011 state law, political parties do not have to allow anyone who is not formally affiliated with their party to vote in their primary elections.

In Idaho, Republican primary elections often decide major elections. Idaho voters last elected a Democrat to statewide office in 2002. Since 1992, Republicans have held a supermajority in both chambers of the Idaho Legislature.

Under the initiative’s proposed general election’s ranked-choice voting system, voters would pick their favorite candidate and can rank the remaining candidates in order of preference – second, third and fourth.

The candidate with the fewest votes would be eliminated, and their votes would instead be transferred to the second choice candidate on those voters’ ballots.

That process would continue until there are two candidates. The candidate receiving the most votes would be elected the winner. Under that system, voters would only vote once.

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