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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Huckleberries Online

Closed Primaries Upset Independents

Update: Closed primary/party registration plan passes Sen. State Affairs on party-line vote, with Dems opposing -- Idaho Reporter Twitter.

Gary Allen, attorney for a group of independent voters, told the Senate State Affairs Committee, “I'm here on my 50th birthday, and I can't think of any better way to spend it than talking about democracy.” He said he and his clients disagree with the federal court ruling overturning Idaho's current system, and are appealing it. Independents don't want to publicly declare affiliation with one party or another, he said. “In our view, this is an unnecessary intrusion on voters' privacy,” Allen said. “Frankly, our clients do not want to do this, and we've seen no evidence that other independents in Idaho want to do this either. At a time when Republican Party identification in Idaho is falling like a stone … I would not think that the Republican Party would want to poke independent voters in the eye”/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. More here.

Question: Do you consider yourself a truly Independent voter who doesn't want to be affiliated with either major political party?



D.F. Oliveria
D.F. (Dave) Oliveria joined The Spokesman-Review in 1984. He currently is a columnist and compiles the Huckleberries Online blog and writes about North Idaho in his Huckleberries column.

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