Closed Primaries Coming to Idaho?


Representative Ken Roberts, Majority Caucus chair of Donnelly, has submitted to committee a bill requiring that all primary elections be closed. Currently there is no party registration for voters. If you wish to vote in the Republican primary, all you have to do is request the Republican ballot. Ditto for the Democrat primary.
The result is that a large number of Democrats actually vote in Republican primaries because there are few if any races in which Democrat candidates have challenges. By influencing Republican primaries, Democrats can either eliminate the strongest candidates, thus easing the election for the Democrat, or they can eliminate the most conservative Republicans, thus achieving an outcome more to their liberal liking.
You don’t believe Dem’s would vote in a GOP primary? I have in my possession a copy of an actual letter written by a county Democrat chairman to her minions, thanking them for voting for the more liberal Republican in the primary. In this case, the true conservative was defeated.
If primaries are closed, voters will have to register their party affiliation and will be allowed to vote only in their party primary. Of course, Democrats can still register Republican, or vice versa (but why would Republicans want to do that?). A few interesting Democrat primaries will put a stop to that.
Posted in Idaho Legislature, Politics in General | 3 Comments »
February 12th, 2007 at 9:22 pm
[...] This bill would actually create “modified” closed primaries, as each party, Republican, Democrat or Libertarian, could opt to open their primary to all voters. Do contact your legislators and urge them to support this legislation for reasons mentioned previously. [...]
March 27th, 2007 at 2:04 pm
[...] You doubt Democrats vote in Republican primaries? We have proof. Be sure to read this post as well. They have many compelling reasons to do so, and the large number of “moderate Republicans”, also known as RINO’s (Republicans in Name Only) in our legislature bears witness that they do. Remember the letter I have in my possession from the Blackfoot County Democrat chairman thanking her fellow Dem’s for defeating the more conservative Republican in the Republican Primary. She also wrote a letter to the editor of the Blackfoot paper instructing Democrats exactly how to vote in the Republican Primary. [...]
June 22nd, 2007 at 1:25 pm
[...] louder for Idaho’s primaries to remain open than the Democrats. We’ve detailed earlier here, here and here that Democrats frequently vote in the Republican primary, and/or change parties to [...]