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Supporters of the open primary initiative gathered 94,795 signatures statewide and have met the signature gathering requirements in 20 legislative districts, Reclaim Idaho co-founder Luke Mayville said Tuesday afternoon.

In Idaho, a ballot initiative is a form of direct democracy where the voters of Idaho propose and vote on their own law, independent of the Idaho Legislature. An example of a ballot initiative is the 2018 Medicaid expansion ballot initiative led by Reclaim Idaho, which more than 60% of Idaho voters voted for in November 2018.

Reclaim Idaho is a member of the Idahoans for Open Primaries coalition and is the same group behind the successful 2018 Medicaid expansion ballot initiative, which more than 60% of Idaho voters voted for in November 2018.

The open primary coalition hopes to qualify a ballot initiative for the November general election that would make changes to the primary election and general election. The initiative would do away with the closed party primary elections in Idaho and replace them with a single primary election open to all Idaho voters and candidates, regardless of party affiliation. The initiative would also create a new ranked choice voting system for the general election. That system is also sometimes called an instant runoff voting system. Under that system, voters would vote for their favorite candidate in the race and then have the option to rank the remaining candidates in order of preference. The candidate with the fewest votes would be eliminated and their votes would instead be transferred to any second choice candidates voters marked on those ballots. That process would continue until two candidates are left and the candidate with the most votes would be elected the winner. Under that system, voters would still only vote one time in the general election because the instant runoff elections would be determined by the ranked choices that Idaho voters marked on their ballot.

But opponents, including Idaho Republican Party Chairwoman Dorothy Moon, say the ballot initiative is different and more complicated than the elections Idahoans are used to voting in. Moon also said the changes reduce the influence of political parties and could lead to more moderates or Democrats being elected.

County clerks will spend 60 days verifying the signatures and then return them with the results of the verification to the Idahoans for Open Primaries coalition, Mayville said. Then in early July, open primary supporters will take the signatures to the Idaho State Capitol in Boise for an additional round of verification by the state.

Idaho Capital Sun is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Idaho Capital Sun maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Christina Lords for questions: in...@idahocapitalsun.com. Follow Idaho Capital Sun on Facebook and X.

Idaho Capital Sun senior reporter Clark Corbin has more than a decade of experience covering Idaho government and politics. He has covered every Idaho legislative session since 2011 gavel-to-gavel. Prior to joining the Idaho Capital Sun he reported for the Idaho Falls Post Register and Idaho Education News. His reporting in Idaho has helped uncover a multimillion-dollar investment scam and exposed inaccurate data that school districts submitted to the state.

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