Written by: Jim Hansen
Monday, March 17, 2008

Pundits and legislators have been talking for over a year about changing Idaho's long history of using an open primary system. Idaho has no party registration so our system allows voters to select which party ballot they would like to vote in on primary election day. On Friday, the Senate introduced Senate Bill 1506 to require voters to register by party and to vote only in their own party’s primary. Unaffiliated voters could choose. The bill gives parties the right to exclude unaffiliated voters, but then the party rather than the taxpayers, would have to pay for the election. There is some great research on this issue by The Common Interest.

The same committee introduced an alternative Senate Bill 1507 suggested by Secretary of State Ben Ysursa to abandon Idaho’s tradition of letting voters keep their party identification confidential. Voters would still have their choice of which party primary to vote in but that choice could be made public. Since Idaho’s primary is just over two months away and the end of the session is about two weeks away, the chance that either bill will make it through the session is slim. However, some Republicans have threatened to sue if the legislature does not create a closed primary system so we may see the issue shift from the statehouse to the courthouse.

What do you think? Should there be registration by party in this state? Apparently, there has been a steady increase in the percentage of people who call themselves "independent" or "unaffiliated."

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