Labrador complies, rewrites titles

Attorney General Raúl Labrador has submitted new ballot titles for a proposed initiative on primary voting, in compliance with a recent Idaho Supreme Court decision.

On Friday, Labrador’s office submitted the short and long titles, which summarize the initiative in 20 words and 200 words respectively; the titles are what would appear on the ballot if its supporters gather enough signatures.

The state Supreme Court had unanimously ruled Thursday that aspects of the office’s previous ballot titles may cause prejudice against the initiative, the Idaho Capital Sun reported.

The new short title is, “Measure to (1) replace voter selection of party nominees with a top-four primary; (2) require a ranked-choice voting system for general elections.”

The previous title had referred to the primary system as a “nonparty blanket primary,” which the group Idahoans for Open Primaries had argued did not follow the requirement that the short title use “words which the measure is commonly referred to or spoken of.”

Under the proposed system, all candidates participate in the same primary election and the top four candidates advance to the general election.

Justice Colleen Zahn wrote in the opinion that the attorney general’s office failed to show that the term “nonparty blanket primary” was commonly used or known.

“We have been unable to identify any court in the United States, including the United States Supreme Court, who has used the term in a published decision. It also does not appear that the term has been used elsewhere. Instead, it appears that the term is one of the Attorney General’s own creation,” Zahn wrote.

For the general election, the initiative proposal allows voters to rank 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 voters’ next choice — this process repeats until two candidates remain and the one with the most votes would win.

The original title said it would “require ranked-choice voting for general election.”

The new titles adjust for the criticism that voters would not be required to rank candidates by adding that it would require the “system.” The court did not find the word “require” to be prejudicial, as the plaintiffs had argued.

The justices heard oral arguments Aug. 7 from Idahoans for Open Primaries and Reclaim Idaho as plaintiffs and the attorney general and Secretary of State Phil McGrane as defendants and issued its opinion later that week. The court has not indicated yet if it will accept the revised titles.

The coalition that proposed the initiative, Idahoans for Open Primaries, has had to halt signature gathering while the court process took place. In the Thursday opinion, the justices rejected the group’s request to extend the deadline. It will need nearly 63,000 signatures from registered voters in at least 18 of 35 districts by April 30 to make it onto the November 2024 ballot.

Guido covers Idaho politics for the Lewiston Tribune, Moscow-Pullman Daily News and Idaho Press of Nampa. She may be contacted at lguido@idahopress.com and can be found on Twitter @EyeOnBoiseGuido.