Editor's note: This editorial was published by The Lewiston Tribune and written by Tribune Opinion page editor Marty Trillhaase.
On the second anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection, the Idaho Republican Party Central Committee is set to take another whack at fair and free elections.
Beginning today, a group of people who lost in the GOP’s May 17 primary will try to kick their political rivals out of the voting booth.
Among those involved are Chairwoman Dorothy Moon, who came up short for secretary of state; party Secretary Maria Nate of Rexburg, whose husband, Ron, lost his bid for another term in the Idaho House and Branden Durst, a former Democratic legislator whose transformation into a Republican still left him losing the race for superintendent of public instruction.
Durst is the author of a pending rule that he says will fumigate the GOP of “its Democrat primary crossover problem.”
Don’t buy that for a second.
For one thing, there simply aren’t that many Democrats in Idaho. As of last month, 132,324 people were registered Democrats — compared to 589,243 Republicans.
For another, it’s not easy for a Democrat to vote in the GOP primary. In order to do so, a Democrat has to change his registration before he knows who’s running. The deadline to switch party affiliation falls on the same day candidates must file for office — about two months prior to the primary.
The real target here is the independent — or in the technical jargon, unaffiliated — Idaho voter.
Last month, 285,636 Idahoans — more than one in four registered voters — were among that group.
In the decade since members of the partisan GOP base won the right to close their primary to all but registered Republicans, they made one concession: Anyone who was not affiliated with a political party could register the day of the election at the polls and vote.
Mobilizing that group is one reason traditional conservatives such as Gov. Brad Little and Congressman Mike Simpson have fended off challenges from the hard-core ideologues of their party.
Durst would start by changing that.
If you’re not registered as a Republican 12 months before the next primary, you’re out.
Then there are those truly independent voters who hold their nose at being publicly registered as a member of the GOP just long enough to vote in the primary.
Days or weeks later, they reestablish their formal status as unaffiliated voters. Under Durst’s plan, those voters would be disqualified for 25 months from voting in another GOP primary.
Next comes the split-ticket voters — or at least those who do so with cash for both sides. Anyone who contributes money to “more than one candidate of a different political party” or gives cash to “a different political party” would be disqualified from voting in the GOP primary for the next 25 months.
The same goes for anyone who “voted in a primary or caucus for any other political party.” Idaho Democrats run an open primary for state and local offices, but their presidential primary is limited to registered Democrats and unaffiliated voters.
Pass this and the outcome would be a primary electorate that looks and votes like the GOP activists — with predictable results. People such as Kootenai County Central Committee Chairman Brent Regan, Bonneville County GOP activist Doyle Beck and Chairwoman Moon would have a greater say over who gets nominated to local, legislative, congressional and statewide office.
You could hope that the more extreme the GOP nominees become, the greater the price the party’s candidates will pay in November. But it hasn’t happened yet. In a state where the GOP controls all but a sliver of the seats in the Legislature, the Republican primary is the crucial election. Democrats routinely fail to recruit enough candidates and those who do emerge are inexperienced, lack name familiarity with voters and are woefully underfunded.
Or you could take your government back by stopping any political party boss from interfering with your vote in a primary election. That can be done through a top-two primary. Those who emerge first and second in the spring — regardless of party affiliation — continue on to the general election.
This won’t be easy. Most likely, it will require a successful initiative campaign.
But what’s the alternative?
Waiting until people such as Branden Durst finally get their way?
