OPINION: Debunking misinformation about Idaho's Prop 1

Hopefully, you already have some idea of what Idaho’s Open Primaries Initiative (Prop 1) is about. If not, I invite you to watch a 3-minute YouTube video, “Idaho Open Primaries Initiative Explained,” outlining the main points or read my Jan. 6, 2024, piece on the same topic.

In this column, I won’t be covering the nuts and bolts but rather addressing some of the objections, misinformation and deliberate confusion surrounding Prop 1.

Opponents contend that ranked-choice voting (RCV) will be too complicated for voters, who are apparently too stupid to arrange four items in order of preference. Actually, ranked-choice voting has been around since the 1800s and has been used successfully in Maine, Alaska and numerous American cities. Surely Idaho voters are just as intelligent and capable as those other Americans.

The beneficiaries of the current, undemocratic system have spread a number of lies to hold onto their power. For the record, RCV maintains the principle of one-person-one-vote, provides results as quickly as other voting methods, only involves a reasonable one-time cost to implement, and uses a simple algorithm that allows results to be easily audited, even by a hand-count. RCV doesn’t have any significant impact on voter turnout and never involves throwing out ballots. Rather, Prop 1 will provide a simple, secure and fair electoral process that is only a threat to those who benefit from our current, broken system, which rewards extremism and shuts hundreds of thousands of voters out of meaningful participation in Idaho’s elections.

Under our existing system, there is enormous pressure to vote for one of two candidates rather than “throwing your vote away” by voting your conscience. But if Prop 1 passes, you’ll not only have more than two choices, you’ll also be able to vote for whom you actually want to win without risk of thereby aiding the candidate you don’t want. Even if your preferred candidate gets the fewest votes in the first round and gets eliminated, your vote will simply transfer to your second choice instead of being rendered irrelevant as the current system does. This is how RCV breaks the tyranny of an entrenched two-party system, makes elections more democratic and elects politicians who better represent the voting public.

Some opponents have started using the slogan “Don’t Californicate Idaho” in their anti-Prop 1 messaging. However California doesn’t even use RCV, and while they do have an open primary system, Idaho did too until 2011. As usual the Republican Party, instead of leveling with their constituents, is fear mongering to get voters to stop thinking and fall in line. Will they be gullible enough to fall for it?

It's worth asking why this initiative has even been proposed. What’s so bad about the voting system we have? In short, our current system is organized to ensure that only the most extreme Republicans have any hope of winning an election in Idaho. Moreover, those who aren’t willing to register as Republicans and attend the closed primaries end up having no meaningful say in Idaho’s politics. Political leaders being chosen by a small slice of a single party is just not a democracy.

In an Atlantic article titled “Is Tennessee a Democracy?” Anne Applebaum writes: “To stay in office in a state where few people vote and districts are gerrymandered, Tennessee legislators need to appeal to only a tiny number of very dedicated, very partisan people. The competition for those votes can quite quickly turn into a competition for who can sound most radical.” This is precisely what has happened in deep-red Idaho.

Just as a monopoly in the business world removes all accountability and thus leads to higher prices, lower quality and worse service — all to the benefit of the monopoly holder — a monopoly in the political world leaves politicians with no incentive to behave ethically, appeal to a wider constituency, or even do the actual work of governance. As evidence, just read the culture-war-driven 2024 Idaho Republican Party Platform.

In Idaho, the Republican Party is a monopoly, and the reason they oppose Prop 1 is because, like all monopolies, they see accountability as a threat to their power and privilege. If Prop 1 passes, Idaho will remain deep-red and Republican led. But, we’ll once again be led by the best Republicans, not just the loudest ones, and that’s something worth fighting for. Please vote “Yes” on Prop 1 in November.

Urie is a lifelong Idahoan and graduate of the University of Idaho. He lives in Moscow with his wife and two children. You can find his writing online at Medium (hopeanyway.medium.com) or Substack (hopeanyway.substack.com). Or, you can email him at ryanthomasurie@gmail.com.