Idaho Supreme Court dismisses lawsuit challenging a ballot initiative for ranked-choice voting
BOISE, Idaho — The Idaho Supreme Court has dismissed a lawsuit filed by the state’s attorney general over a ballot initiative aimed at opening Idaho’s closed primary and allowing a ranking votes system.
The Supreme Court did not rule on Idaho Attorney General Raul Labrador’s arguments against the Idahoans for Open Primaries initiative, but did say that Labrador should have taken his case to a lower court first instead of going straight to the state’s highest judicial panel.
Labrador filed the challenge last month, alleging that organizers misled voters by using the term “open primary” instead of “top-four primary” when collecting signatures. He also said the initiative violated the Idaho Constitution’s prohibition on having more than one issue on a single ballot.
Idaho currently has a partisan primary system, with each political party setting its own rules for who can participate. Only registered Republicans are eligible to vote in the Republican primary, and voters who are not affiliated with or registered with the Democratic Party are eligible to vote in the Democratic primary.
The initiative would replace that system with a primary election in which all candidates running would appear on a single ballot. The four candidates with the highest votes would advance to the general election. In the general election, voters would rank candidates by preference, and then there would be rounds of voting in which the candidate with the fewest votes would be eliminated. If a voter’s first choice was eliminated, their second choice would get the vote in the next round. The process would repeat until someone had won a majority of the votes.
The allegations of fraud in the initiative process are serious, Judge Robyn Brody wrote for the unanimous court in Tuesday’s ruling, but she said those allegations must first be brought before a district court.
“The Attorney General’s petition fundamentally misunderstands the role of this Court under the Idaho Constitution and the role of the Secretary of State under the private member states’ bills passed by the Idaho Legislature,” Brody wrote.
That’s because Idaho law does not authorize the secretary of state to make a factual determination about whether signatures were fraudulently obtained. Only someone with that kind of authority — a “clear legal duty to act” — can bring that kind of lawsuit directly to the Idaho Supreme Court, Brody wrote.
It is also premature for the court to consider whether the initiative violates the state Constitution’s one-subject rule, Brody wrote. That issue can only come before the court if Idaho voters approve the initiative in the November general election.
The Idaho Attorney General’s Office released a statement Tuesday afternoon saying it was considering next steps and would “continue to defend the public’s right to an initiative process free from deception.”
“We are disappointed that the court did not address the single issue at this time, but we are confident that the people of Idaho and the courts will ultimately dismiss this clearly unconstitutional petition,” the attorney general’s office wrote.
Luke Mayville, a spokesman for Idahoans for Open Primaries, said the lawsuit is now “on hold” because there isn’t enough time before the general election to rehear the case in lower court.
“The ruling is a huge victory for Idaho voters,” Mayville said. “The court has slammed the door on the attorney general’s attempt to keep the open primary initiative off the ballot, and the people of Idaho now have the opportunity to vote ‘yes’ on Prop 1.”