Idaho Secretary of State: Open Primaries Initiative will be on November ballot

BOISE — Idaho voters in November will get to choose whether or not to shift Idaho’s primary elections away from political parties and open them to any affiliation.

The Idaho Secretary of State's Office reviewed the signatures, which had been verified by county clerks, and on Wednesday confirmed it had met the required threshold to appear on the November ballot, according to a news release from Secretary of State Phil McGrane.

Pro- and con-arguments regarding the initiative may be submitted to the Secretary of State’s Office no later than July 20, according to the news release. Arguments may be submitted online at bit.ly/3zDVmlV.

Idaho voters will receive a voter pamphlet before the Nov. 5 general election that will include the initiative language and selected pro- and con-arguments.

If the initiative passes, all candidates in Idaho races, regardless of party affiliation, would participate in the same primary contest, which all voters could cast a ballot in. The top four candidates would advance to the general election.

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

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

Supporters of the Open Primaries Initiative, who more than a year collecting signatures on their initiative, delivered the signatures to the Secretary of State’s Office at the Idaho Capitol on June 2.

“It’s a tremendous achievement for our campaign. Over 2,000 volunteers worked to make this happen. They did it because they believe that all voters, regardless of party affiliation, should be able to participate in every Idaho election,” Idahoans for Open Primaries spokesperson Luke Mayville told the Idaho Capital Sun in an interview on Wednesday.