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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Eye On Boise

New Idaho election rules cause confusion

The upcoming May primary election will be Idaho's first under the state's new closed-primary and party registration law, and the new rules are causing lots of confusion. Idaho Statesman reporter Cynthia Sewell has a nice how-to article about it here. The upshot: To vote in the primary, you have to register your affiliation with a party – Constitution, Democratic, Libertarian or Republican – or choose unaffiliated. Only those who register as Republicans can vote in the GOP primary. Anyone can vote in the Democratic primary – except those who vote in the Republican primary, because you can only vote in one or the other - and anyone can vote on the nonpartisan offices, which in May are just unopposed judicial races. Whatever choices you make, they'll be public record.



Betsy Z. Russell
Betsy Z. Russell joined The Spokesman-Review in 1991. She currently is a reporter in the Boise Bureau covering Idaho state government and politics, and other news from Idaho's state capital.

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