By Reader Staff
Idahoans for Open Primaries is bringing its message of support for Proposition 1 to communities throughout North Idaho, with guests including former-Sen. Joe Stegner, R-Lewiston, and former-Rep. Ed Morse, R-Hayden, as well as Veterans for Idaho Voters members Christine Wood and Gray Henderson, coming to Bonners Ferry, Sandpoint and Orofino.
Following events earlier in the week in Moscow and Coeur d’Alene, the “yes” on Prop. 1 group will appear at 10 a.m. on Thursday, Oct. 3 at the Pearl Theater in Bonners Ferry (7160 Ash St.), then the Memorial Community Center in Hope (415 Wellington Place) at 3 p.m. and Sandpoint High School (410 S. Division St.) at 7 p.m.
Following that will be an appearance Friday, Oct. 4 at the VFW hall in Orofino (330 Michigan Ave.), before further events in Lewiston, McCall and Council through the rest of the week.
Calling it an “historic opportunity to vote ‘yes’ on Prop. 1 and fix Idaho’s broken closed-primary election system,” Idahoans for Open Primaries spokesperson and Reclaim Idaho co-founder Luke Mayville posted on Facebook the “barnstorming” tour will include “door-knocks and other events along the way.”
The Open Primaries Initiative on the Tuesday, Nov. 5 ballot would change Idaho’s current primary election system by opening it to voters of all political affiliations, followed by a ranked-choice voting method and instant runoff in the general election.
Proponents argue that it will increase voter participation and ensure that winning candidates have broad-based support independent of party membership, while opponents say it would mean the end of political parties, be unnecessarily complicated, too expensive and threaten election integrity.
The citizens’ initiative made it onto the November 2024 ballot by surpassing the threshold of 62,895 valid signatures from Idaho voters.
Members of the Idahoans for Open Primaries coalition include Veterans for Idaho Voters, the Idaho Chapter of Mormon Women for Ethical Government, North Idaho Women, the Hope Coalition, Reclaim Idaho and Republicans for Open Primaries. The Idaho Republican Party has officially announced its opposition to the initiative.
For more information, visit yesforopenprimaries.com.
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